


Gumball's Dark Amazing world

by Zargorth



Category: The Amazing World of Gumball
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Drama, F/M, Family, Friendship, Gen, Psychological Torture, Romance, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-28
Updated: 2019-03-10
Packaged: 2019-08-08 19:38:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 29,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16435547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zargorth/pseuds/Zargorth
Summary: Gumball is a blue cat that has a family with an assortment of personalities and an adopted pet fish for a brother. On a Thursday evening, Gumball found something while taking out the trash for his mum Nicole, or, it found him, since it was calling gumballs name. No one could have known that whatever it was Gumball found, it would change his and everyone he knows life forever.





	1. The Beginning Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (These notes are old as I started this fic a while ago on FFN but i thought I would leave them the same)  
> Hey everyone, this is my very first Fan-fiction and I would like to say that I appreciate anyone who reads and gives constructive feedback, negative or positive. I have tried my best to keep characters as close to their canon personalities as much as possible, so if you feel that I have strayed too far from that, please let me know.
> 
> I would also like to add that I got inspiration for this story from reading many depressing but happy and interesting Gumball Fan-Fictions From both FFN and Deviant art.
> 
> Mr. Page: - The Loop
> 
> Red Marks : - Scars
> 
> DNA-Do-Not-Abominate : - The Feral
> 
> Mr. Bda241 : - Misunderstood
> 
> Special Thanks goes to
> 
> One, Deviant-art User lilie-pucisse : - Dark Gumball ( Nightmare Ball )
> 
> Though grammar in her story isn't great and the fact that chapters are short, it's still both a great concept and enjoyable read. Also her Gumball art is just amazing and she allowed me to use one of her pieces for the Cover Art :D
> 
> And two, a huge thanks to my Beta Reader for this story Circus4APsycho8
> 
> Even though this story is still just on it's first chapter, Circus4APsycho8 has helped me improve it by making sure that Dialogue had a nice flow, Spelling was correct and removing unwanted commas, full stops and capital letters etc.
> 
> Circus did a great job on this chapter and I hope to continue our work together until this story is complete. :D 
> 
> Before you begin reading I would like to say that I'm not the best at knowing when to create new paragraphs, use commas or full stops. Though, I do like to think my spelling is excellent (UK English if you think some words are wrong)
> 
> Finally this first chapter is mainly world building, character building and story building so not much actually happens but in later chapters it will get darker with, stronger language and violent themes so be warned.

It was the final day of the school week where everyone could finally go home and relax all weekend once the Friday was over. This is what Gumball Waterson, a blue, furry cat, was hoping to do at the end of the day as his Friday morning began.

As the morning alarm went off at 6:30am (which was one hour before the school bus arrived) Gumball, while very groggy, pushed himself out from the bottom of his bunkbed, silencing the annoying and irritating alarm.

Once he had turned off the alarm, Gumball turned towards where his best friend and adopted brother, Darwin, was sleeping. Darwin was a bright orange goldfish, who, after being accidentally flushed down the toilet, learnt how to talk, breath oxygen, and grow arms and legs through the power of love and friendship which he and gumball shared at their young age.

"Morning Darwin! It's time to get up," Gumball said with little excitement as it was still early morning.

Darwin heard Gumball knock on his fish bowl since the alarm had already woken him up enough to be able to acknowledge sounds. Unlike Gumball, Darwin didn't want to get up so early even knowing he had to. If anyone refused to wake up on time it would mean their mum Nicole coming to get them herself, and when that happens, the morning becomes much worse.

Hesitantly, Darwin opened his eyes and stepped out of his undersized fishbowl which desperately needed an upgrade. With a loud yawn and a few bubbles floating upwards from out of his mouth, Darwin finally replied, "Good morning Gumball."

"Come on, buddy! If you don't hurry mum will get impatient and we both know what that's like!" As Gumball said this, a shiver went down his spine, which made his blue, furry tail spike straight up into the air, almost pulling the rest of his body up with it.

Shaking the thought away, Gumball quickly pulled the curtains open, leading a beam of sudden heat and light into the room from the sun which made both Gumball and Darwin blink for a few seconds before getting used to the sudden change of brightness. Once opening the curtains, Gumball quickly went to get dressed himself and said to Darwin that he could go ahead without him. "Hey, Darwin, you can go ahead to the bathroom, I'll meet you downstairs for breakfast when I'm ready!"

"Okay!" Darwin simply and eagerly replied, as he was starting to become more awake. Darwin could always get used to the mornings a lot faster than Gumball could; actually, it was just getting out of bed which Gumball could do faster than Darwin.

As Darwin left the bedroom, he closed the door behind him and headed towards the bathroom. Gumball finished getting dressed into his favourite tan-coloured sweater that had brown around the end of the sleeves and collar before he jumped into his slightly grey-coloured pants which had a tan colour around the two bottom leg holes.

As he was leaving the room to go into the bathroom and head downstairs, he remembered something and took this chance to grab it. This was something that he had found outside Thursday evening as he was taking out the trash as a request from his mother. He had decided to hide it under his pillow, next to the picture he tried to but unknowingly failed to hide of Penny, his not-so-secret crush.

The small object he found looked very bland and boring, but for some reason Gumball was drawn towards it like it was calling to him and he didn't understand why. When examining it after picking it up again, it still had a bland and boring appearance. It looked like your average pebble on a sidewalk, but Gumball couldn't resist and decided to keep it, secretly, to himself.

* * *

-FLASHBACK-

"GUMBALL! I TOLD YOU A MILLION TIMES ALREADY TAKE OUT THE TRASH!" Nicole was getting very impatient with Gumball as she had asked him to do this multiple times throughout the evening.

"Sorry mum, I'll do it in a minute!" Gumball was with Darwin watching funny videos on the local video sharing site known as Elmore Stream.

"NOT IN A MINUTE, NOW! DON'T MAKE ME COME UP THERE!" With this, she finally heard a door slam upstairs. Out from the corner of the upstairs wall appeared Gumball.

He suddenly came rushing quickly down the stairs, grabbing the bags as he flew past his mum and literally went crashing through the door into the front yard. He put the bags in the bins outside. Gumball was going so fast you could say it resembled another speedy blue creature we all know and sometimes love.

After putting the trash into the bins, he paused his speedy momentum to have a look around. He swore he heard something calling his name. Eventually, he shrugged his shoulders and continued back towards the house when he suddenly heard it again.

In a very ghastly tone he heard it once more after pausing to take another look around for a few moments.

"Gumballllllllllll!" he heard it say, and again a few seconds later "Gumballlllllllllllllllll."

This is when a strange, completely normal pebble caught his attention. Even though there were more than just the one, this particular pebble, he knew, was what was calling to him somehow. After staring at it for a few minutes he suddenly heard his mother call his name again. "GUMBALLLLLL! GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!"

This snapped Gumball out of the weird trance he was in. Staring at the stone, he decided to pick it up and stash it away into his pocket. When he did, though, the eccentric whisperings of his name came to a sudden stop. Later, after getting yelled at for making a hole in the front door, he went upstairs and put it under his pillow.

-END OF FLASHBACK-

* * *

After grabbing what he wanted from under the pillow, he decided to put it in his back-pant pocket. He made his way to the bathroom before he went downstairs to join everyone. Once he had finished getting ready, it was 7:00am, which he read on the clock once he made his way downstairs into the kitchen. He noticed the hole in the door was boarded up with some planks he knew were in the shed outside.

"Good morning, Mum, Dad, Darwin, Anais. What's for breakfast?" Gumball asked, though he knew perfectly well what it was; he could smell it as he was coming down the stairs a minute ago. The smell of the oily, crispy bacon and frying eggs, the nicely toasted bread, and the hot baked beans drifted through the air. The meal was in every sense a traditional English breakfast and Gumball was excited to dig in.

Though he was excited, someone else was way more excited than anyone else in the house; it was his dad Richard. Their dad was a lazy, unemployed, fat-ass, but a very happy and cuddly fat-ass whom Gumball and his family could count on in serious situations, like at one time in a junkyard, where he had saved him from falling into a pit of death meant for cars to be crushed.

"Look who's here on time for breakfast. This is very unusual, normally mum has to shout at you at least once to get you to come down here on time." This arrogant remark was made by his cute, intelligent, but sometimes annoying, four-year-old sister.

"Hey Gumball!" Richard said in a hyped-up tone. "We're having a fully cooked English breakfast." Richard said this while drooling over the food that his mother was about to serve to everyone.

As Nicole walked into the dining room with all of the food ready to serve, she noticed Gumball heading towards his seat. "Gumball, sweetie, good morning. Glad you could make it on time." After pausing for a brief moment, she continued on. "Now come over here and get some breakfast before the bus arrives."

As Gumball made it to his seat, which was in between his father and little brother, he said to everyone, "Yeah dad it smells great. And thanks mum but…what's the occasion?"

Before Nicole could say a word, Darwin quickly said what she was about to say, effectively stealing her moment: "Mrs. Mum said that today, they will pick the Employee of the Month and she hopes to get it again like she had done a few months back!"

Gumball, now with understanding of what was going on, replied with a simple, "Ohhhh! Okay, that makes sense."

Nicole slowly sat in her chair, looking at Darwin with a slightly sad expression so he would know that she wanted to tell Gumball herself.

Both Darwin and Gumball noticed their mum make a weird face at him, so Darwin decided to lean over towards Gumball to whisper to him, "Why does Mrs. Mum look, like, a thousand years older all of a sudden?"

Gumball whispered back, "I don't know buddy, she was happy just before you…told…me…" Gumball, towards the end of what he was saying, realized what was wrong and changed what he was saying to Darwin mid-sentence "You...told…me…actually, I think I do know, you told me about mum having the chance to become Employee of the Month."

Darwin, hearing what Gumball had told him, thought he now understood and decided to say a completely wrong guess out loud. "Oh, because I told you Mrs. Mum had the chance to become Employee of the Month, she misunderstood me, and thought I meant a different Mrs. Mum!"

At this, both Gumball and Anais face palmed, with Richard soon following, deciding to join in as well, even though he didn't know what face palming actually meant. He kept his hand on his face because he couldn't see that Anais and Gumball had removed their palms from their faces.

At this spectacle, Nicole had to let out a slight chuckle at how silly her family was being. Especially Richard, who suddenly asked with his hand still on his face, "Wait is face palming a type of food?"

While finishing up her food, Nicole decided to say something, "No Richard, it's not food and you can put your hand down now. Eat your breakfast before it gets cold, all of you. Don't worry about it, it was just something silly I was sulking over."

With breakfast finished, Gumball, Darwin and Anais said their goodbyes to their mum and dad as they went out the front garden to wait for the bus, which - the time being 7:28am - would arrive any minute now. Rocky, the school caretaker and bus driver, was always punctual with his timing.

Right on cue, the bus was in sight down the road, driving up towards where they were standing. It came to a slow stop outside the Waterson's house. Rocky opened the bus doors and happily greeted the three siblings.

"Hey guys! Looks like you three are having a good morning. Come on, we don't want to miss the morning bell."

As Darwin, Anais and Gumball stepped into the bus, they each greeted Rocky themselves and shuffled their way to the back of the bus. As the three of them were reaching the back seats, Gumball noticed Penny and he gave her an awkward, love-struck smile and wave which made Penny blush. She let out a light chuckle while waving back towards Gumball.

Once the three of them settled in their seats, the bus started moving off again, heading towards the last day of school. Gumball had hoped they would have a great last day leading into a great, relaxing weekend where he could play video games with Darwin.

"Gumball."

He didn't just want to play video games though, he also wants to help his mum with some cooking which he enjoyed doing ever since he made a soufflé in his home economics class.

"GUMBALL!"

He even wants to forcibly help with Mr. Robinson's chores, which was his and Darwin's favourite neighbour though, the feeling isn't mutual.

"GUMBALLLLLL HELLOOOO"

Finally, what he wished to do most of all (if he could find the courage) was ask to hang out with Penny to talk about things. Subjects that didn't come out as a bunch of jumbled words.

Suddenly, Gumball felt someone or something hit the side of his face.

"OUCH! Huh? What? Where am I? Hmm…oh, hi Darwin, Anais what's up?" Gumball, confused what was going on, had to ask, silently hoping that it wouldn't be a stupid question. To no surprise, his hope for that vanished as Anais and Darwin were both looking agitated and annoyed at him, telling him what he was confused about.

"Gumball," Anais said, still annoyed her voice becoming slightly more worried she continued. "We've been trying to get your attention for a few minutes now, we're at school and the bell will go off any minute now. You know what Miss Simian will do if you're late, even by a single second."

After hearing these words, Gumball shot up like he had just been electrocuted. He grabbed hold of Darwin's fin and pulled him along with him as he ran towards his classroom. It reminded him of when he had to take out the trash. It seemed to be a skill that, when in tough and pressuring situations, Gumball suddenly felt like he could run one-thousand miles per hour.

He thought to himself that, maybe it could be something he inherited from his mother? After all, she could run really fast whenever she had to chase Gumball and Darwin around the neighbourhood for trouble they had caused, like when they tried to return a DVD back to Laser Video, even though it was way passed its return date.

As they were running down the hall towards the classroom, they could see Miss Simian standing outside by the door with an evil grin and glare to go with it. This meant she definitely saw them rushing to get there on time. To make the situation even tenser, she began counting down in a very hopeful voice, hope that they would fail to make it on time. "Thirty, twenty-nine, twenty-eight, twenty-seven, twenty-six, twenty-five, twenty-four, twenty-three, twenty-two, twenty-one, twenty…"

"We're not going to make it!" Darwin screamed, the worry in his voice very obvious to Gumball. He didn't want to spend the final day of the week in detention, and, knowing Miss Simian, he would have to do it on the Saturday instead of Friday just to ruin his weekend.

Gumball, though he had a plan, knew this was his fault and wanted at least one of them to make it in on time. He grabbed his brother's other fin and started spinning in circles as fast as he could.

"Duuuude, whaaaat are yoooooouuu dooooiiing?" While being spun around this fast, Darwin couldn't speak as clearly as he wished to, but still hoping to get an answer, he waited patiently while still being spun around.

Darwin started to get confused when Gumball shed a tear and said, "Live on without me! Only one of us can make it. Don't worry about me! You must move forward and leave me." Of course, he was being overdramatic and overly exaggerating the entire situation like he usually does.

Miss Simian could still be heard in the background as she continued her evil count down: "Twelve, eleven, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five…"

Making sure to time it right, he let go of Darwin as Miss Simian reached the last 5 seconds. It was so fast no one could have made out what it was. It flew by like oranges in an automatic baseball machine on its max settings, leaving behind scorch marks and fire from the speed he was thrown at.

It was when Gumball let go of Darwin that he understood what Gumball was doing and a loud "NO!" could be heard. It was getting quieter and quieter as the orange blur went straight into the classroom and crashed into the side of the teacher's desk.

"NOOOO!"

As the speedy orange blur slammed into the side of the teacher's desk, Miss Simian, in a state of shock, was able to shakily let out a single word with a burnt face.

"One."

Straight after she whispered that, the morning bell to signal that class had started rang throughout the school.

Gumball then continued to play out the scene he had created and kept going with it saying, "Darwin, my friend, my brother, you must live and escape the fate known as detention to live a happy life." Finally, he collapsed onto the floor, acting dead.

Darwin got up from where he lay by the teacher's desk and walked over to look outside the classroom, towards Gumball so that he could hear what he was saying. He then also decided to continue playing along and let out a loud screech that possibly everyone in the school could hear

"GUUUUUUUMBALLLLLLLLLLLLLL NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" He began crying fountains he continued weeping, "You deserved better! How could this happen? Why is this world so cruel?"

Once the morning bell finished ringing, Miss Simian got her senses back and snapped, "STOP FOOLING AROUND! DARWIN SIT AT YOUR DESK! GUMBALL 5 HOUR DETENTION…ON SATURDAY…AT NOON! NOW GUMBALL YOU TOO COME SIT AT YOUR DESK!" Once Gumball and Darwin finally sat down at their desks. Gumball, still feeling miserable that he could no longer feel excited for his Saturday, sloppily sat in his desk with his head on his arms using them as a makeshift pillow as he laid his head on the desk.

Miss Simian had calmed down and started her lesson by saying "What a bunch of losers you all are…you know what losers deserve? A SURPRISE TEST! HAHAHAHA." This comment made everyone let out a huge sigh in annoyance, as always, when they were given surprise tests by Miss Simian.

Miss Simian went around the classroom with evil delight in her eyes, slowly banging a test onto each student's desk from a pile of papers she was holding. As she made her way around the room, she could see the anguish in her student's eyes which made her job that little bit more enjoyable.

Since Anais slapped him on the bus, Gumball had a weird feeling that was coming from his pocket. He could only guess that it had something to do with the odd little rock that he had brought with him. It was now the middle of class and Gumball still had this weird feeling he couldn't explain, so, he decided he needed to check it out. "Miss Simian?" Gumball asked to get her attention.

After gaining her attention, Miss Simian responded with a sigh, "What is it, Gumball?"

"Can I go to the bathroom?" After getting his question out, he decided to jokingly add on, "I would rather use the toilet then do it in class."

With this Miss Simian answered Gumball with an annoyed tone, "Fine Gumball, BUT! Only five minutes max." After all, she didn't want someone to have an accident in her classroom. This is why she often let people use the bathroom when they asked, despite being a terribly grumpy teacher.

Gumball got out of his chair and opened the door to his classroom, closing it behind him. He then made his way down the hall to where the bathroom was. Once inside the bathroom, he did use the toilet since he was there, but, after he flushed, he stayed by the sink to check on what he actually came here to check on.

Gumball took out the strange, small pebble from his pocket and to his surprise, he could see that it was very faintly pulsating a dark glow in the center of it. Like before, Gumball could have sworn that the stone started whispering his name.

"Gumballlllllllll…Gumballlllll…Gumballlllllllll" With a pause of a few seconds between each time it called his name.

Gumball could feel it in his head, whatever it is. Similar to when he first picked it up, he could feel himself falling into a trance, staring into the pulsating dark colour coming from the stone. To Gumball it felt…peaceful. He wanted to stay like this, forever if possible.

"Gumball, bro, are you in here? Miss Simian asked me to check on you, it's been almost ten minutes."

This made Gumball snap out of his weird trance since he recognized the voice and was surprised to hear it. It was his little brother Darwin. As he quickly darted his eyes around the room, waking himself up from the trance he was in, he noticed as he looked back towards the small object, that it had stopped glowing. Gumball, confused, swiftly put it back into his pocket. For some reason, he had a strong feeling that he needed to keep it hidden from everyone.

"Gumball? Hello?" Darwin continued calling his brother's name until he finally got a reply.

"Oh, hey Darwin. I'm coming now," Gumball said while giving his brother a wave as he walked towards the bathroom door where Darwin was standing.

Darwin had his arms crossed looking at him with a questioning face. "Why were you taking so long? Miss Simian said five minutes max."

"I know, I'm sorry buddy, making you have to come get me." With a slight chuckle Gumball added, "I guess I was just that desperate for the loo, heh."

"Come on dude, we need to get back."

"Okay, okay, I'm coming."

* * *

As they entered back into the classroom and walked towards their desks to sit back down, Miss Simian (once again angry) shouted at Gumball-

"I TOLD YOU FIVE MINUTES MAX! WHAT WERE YOU DOING TO BE GONE FOR TEN MINUTES?" Again calming down, she decided her punishment: "For taking too long, I am giving you an extra hour of detention tomorrow so six hours starting at noon. YOU BETTER SHOW UP!"

This day was putting Gumball in a bad mood. First, he got slapped by Anais, though he knew that was his own fault for day dreaming about the weekend. It still made him agitated for some reason, despite the fact that something trivial like that hadn't made him upset in the past.

Next, he was late to class and got detention, again, knowing it was his fault, he still couldn't help but put some blame on Darwin as well as Miss Simian. Mostly Miss Simian though, since she was the one who gave the detention and extended it. Not to mention she gave the class a surprise test.

Once the morning lessons ended and the lunch time bell rang throughout the school, she ended class by saying-

"Alright class, remember to hand in your assigned homework when it's due." Of course, everyone ignored Miss Simian's comments about getting homework in on time and instead, sped past her like a stampede out the door and down the hall towards the cafeteria, ready to eat and play outside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well… That's it for now. :D
> 
> As I said previously, any constructive feedback is appreciated negative or positive.
> 
> Chapter 2 should be up in the next couple of days since it's almost done. It's almost done because it was originally going to be part of this chapter, but in the end I thought it would have ended up being too long.
> 
> Thanks! Until next time. :)


	2. The Beginning Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (old notes)  
> Hey guys here's chapter 2 I know it's been a few days I would have got it done sooner but distractions. OmegaLuL :P
> 
> (I appreciate anyone who gives constructive feedback positive or negative)
> 
> That's all Please Enjoy. :D

Once the stampede of hungry students was nearing the end of the current hallway, Gumball and Darwin began to follow behind. Making their way through the school hallway, they opened the large double doors to the cafeteria. Once inside the cafeteria, they could see everyone either sitting down and already eating, choosing where to sit, or still queuing up to get some lunch.

As Gumball and Darwin joined the queue, they could see Rocky serving the students behind the counter up ahead. Once it was their turn to be served Gumball and Darwin took turns to say hello.

Darwin began by simply saying, "Hey Rocky! What's cooking?"

Gumball soon followed suit and greeted, "Hey Rocky, what's for lunch today? It smells great."

Rocky, being a positive person towards all the students replied very enthusiastically, "Oh hey guys! For lunch today, we have lasagna with fruit and veg on the side. For dessert, we have apple pie with custard."

Both Gumball and Darwin looked at each other, then back at Rocky and said simultaneously, "Sounds great; we'll take it!"

After receiving their lunch, they began walking towards their usual seats. Gumball, being oblivious, started to walk straight to the table and did not notice the wet floor sign on display. As a result, Gumball slipped backwards, causing him to let go of his lunch tray. As he was falling, Gumball let out a loud cry which could be heard by everyone present in the cafeteria:

"Woah!"

Gumball fell, causing his tray to be hurdled through the air and land on Darwin's face. This led to him losing his balance as well since it was unexpected. Unlike Gumball, who fell backwards, Darwin landed face first onto his own tray of lunch on the floor. As Darwin fell, he could also be heard letting out a similar loud cry like Gumball:

"Wah!"

This spectacle grabbed everyone's attention, causing all but two people to laugh and make fun of them. The ones who stood up and laughed the longest and hardest were their peers by the names of Jamie, Tina, Tobias and Banana Joe.

The two who didn't laugh were Penny, a peanut girl with antlers, and Carrie, an emo ghost. The two came over to where Gumball and Darwin fell so that they could offer their help.

As Gumball began to stand back up, he became annoyed at everyone laughing. Then, he heard someone behind him ask, "Hey Gumball, are you okay?"

Gumball started to turn around to yell at the person who had asked the stupid question. This is when he noticed it was Penny who was asking him. Carrie was standing beside her.

"Yeah, and what about you Darwin?" Carrie questioned soon after Gumball noticed who was asking.

"Oh! Uh…um, hey Pe-Penny! I'm fine. What, uh, what brings you here, heh?" Gumball stuttered, embarrassed that Penny had to see him like this.

"I'm just fine Carrie!" Darwin responded to Carrie in an angry, sarcastic tone.

Carrie was surprised by this since Darwin almost never gets angry. Not knowing what else to say to Darwin in his current mood, she just floated there on the spot.

Darwin started to stand and cleaned himself off before he turned towards Gumball. The orange fish waited for him to finish his talk with Penny.

"I was just asking if you were okay, but if you're sure you're fine then I'm going to go meet up with Molly," Penny responded to Gumball questioningly, not actually believing gumball to be fine.

"Oh, um, uh, yeah, I'm sure I'm f-f-fine. You go ahead."

As Penny walked off, Gumball quickly said to her, "I love you Penny. NO! I mean, I love peanuts…no! Not that, I don't love peanuts, I hate them, I mean I don't hate them! NOO! GAH!" Giving up, Gumball grunted and sighed.

As Penny walked off towards the cafeteria doors so she could meet up with Molly, she heard what Gumball was saying and blushed, letting out a small chuckle until she was out of sight.

Now Penny and Gumball had finished talking, Darwin got his chance to walk over to Gumball to yell at him:

"DUDE! WHERE WERE YOU LOOKING!? I WAS HUNGRY! NOW WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO EAT! ROCKY ONLY GIVES ONE SERVING PER STUDENT!"

This caught Gumball off guard, since one, he hadn't realized what happened to Darwin, and two, it takes a lot of work to get Darwin mad enough to start yelling.

"Darwin!? Calm down buddy! I-I'm sorry; it was an accident!"

"An accident? AN ACCIDENT!? IT'S ALWAYS AN ACCIDENT WITH YOU AROUND! ALSO, I'M NOT YOUR BUDDY RIGHT NOW!"

"Bro, I said I was sorry. What do you want from me?"

Finally, Darwin snapped, "SORRY ISN'T GOING TO GIVE ME BACK MY LUNCH!" Then, he walked out of the cafeteria to calm down and think in the library.

As Darwin left the cafeteria, Carrie was still floating, where she was surprised to see Darwin angry at Gumball like this. She soon made her way over to Gumball to see if everything was going to be okay between them.

"Hey Gumball, are you and Darwin going to be okay?"

"Oh, hey Carrie. Yeah, we should be fine. He just needs time to cool off," he answered in a low monotone voice. After pausing briefly, he added under his breath, almost like a whisper "I hope so anyway…"

* * *

Once he finished talking with Carrie, Gumball headed off somewhere quiet to think. Eventually, he found a bench in the corner of the playground. He walked over to it and sat down.

Thinking about how this day was going began to put him in a bad mood which only seemed to worsen the longer the day went on. He once again could hear his name being called in a deep, ghostly whisper:

"Gumball…" he heard it murmur, "Gumball…"

Knowing where it was coming from, the voice made him feel compelled to pull out the strange item he had hidden in his pocket. He felt the need to stare into it like he had done when he first found it yesterday.

The dark purple light was slightly brighter and had begun to pulsate even faster than beforehand. It seemed to pull Gumball into another hypnotic-like trance, causing him to feel angrier about everything that had happened. Anything from simple stuff like being late to class, to the argument over a spilt lunch he had minutes ago with Darwin.

"Take my power! It's yours to wield," muttered the object as he kept looking at it. The deep, ghostly voice finally said something other than Gumball's name, Gumball noted in confusion.

As the bell rang to signal the end of break, the surprising loud noise brought Gumball out of his hypnotic state. Once again, Gumball put the small object back into his pocket.

On his way back to class, he could see Darwin waiting by the lockers near the classroom entrance. When he got close enough to where Darwin was waiting, he was about to say something to Gumball. Darwin looked more upset than angry now.

"Hey Gum-" Darwin began before he got cut off.

"I don't give a shit, now leave me alone!" Gumball interrupted angrily.

Darwin just stood there, stunned. This was the first time Gumball had ever sworn, and for it to be directed towards him of all people, over something so dumb being the argument they had in the cafeteria…it hurt.

Gaining some composure, Darwin finally responded, "Dude, I just wanted to apologize, calm down." Briefly pausing, he could see even Gumball himself was shocked at what he said. Worried, he added, "Hey, are you feeling okay?"

Gumball coming back into his senses finally responded to Darwin, "Yeah Darwin I-I'm fine. I-I'm sorry, I don't know why I said that. It-it just sorta came out"

"Are you sure you're fine?"

"Yes I'm sure."

"Bu-"

"I SAID I'M FINE!" yelled Gumball. After letting out a sigh, Gumball looked at Darwin with a soft smile. "Sorry, just stop worrying dude. I promise I'm fine. We better get inside before Miss Simian shows up, don't want her yelling at us again today," he added.

"Hm…okay. If you're sure you're fine, then we better go inside before Miss Simian shows up," Darwin notes.

As Gumball and Darwin walked into the classroom, they were greeted by a familiar voice:

"Hey, look! It's the lunch losers!" taunted none other than Tobias. The comment made everyone look over to see who Tobias was talking about.

Realizing it was Gumball and Darwin who entered the classroom, a few chuckles could be heard coming from Banana Joe.

"Really, Tobias?" Gumball interjected, "You couldn't think of anything better than that? Your insults are just as bad as Miss Simian's bloody face."

Everyone then laughed at Tobias for humiliating himself. Being distracted by the laughter, Darwin joined in, missing the fact that Gumball had sworn for a second time. However, it didn't last as the laughing suddenly turned into whistling. This was because the class noticed that someone was standing behind Gumball and Darwin at the door to the classroom.

"GUMBALL!" The screech could be heard echoing across the room and throughout the school halls. Both Gumball and Darwin knew who it was. How could anyone not recognize that annoying voice?

They slowly turned around to face Miss Simian. "Hey," they drawled, "Miss Simian."

Miss Simian looked at them before she shouted at the top of her voice. She screeched out her usual phrase when someone misbehaved or bad mouthed her, "Gumball, to the principal's office. Now!"

* * *

Upon entering the principal's office, he could see that the principal, Nigel Brown, was sitting down in his swivel chair. He appeared to be a slug covered entirely in a thick layer of brown fur. His face featured a pair of circular glasses with black rims.

Principal Brown looked over his desk to see the school's troublemaker looking at him, annoyed. He then looked over in the corner of the room, where Miss Simian was standing with her arms crossed.

Darting his eyes back towards the seated cat opposite him, he asked, "What have you done now?"

Gumball ground his teeth in frustration. "Tobias started it. He was trying to humiliate me in class, so I retaliated and did the same to him. Then everyone started laughing. But of course, you don't want to talk to Tobias or anyone else. You only want to talk with me, it's always only me! I've had it with you and Miss Simian always telling me what to do! I don't regret what I said, and I would say it again because it's true. So, fuck off!" The words came out in a rush, almost incomprehensible. After letting all of that out, the blue cat was hyperventilating, trying to catch his breath.

The principal, only picking up a few key words from Gumball's rant, was very confused along with Miss Simian. Gumball's breathing was the only sound that could be heard.

After a while, Principal Brown cleared his throat to purposely break the silence. "Well, that was interesting. Gumball, I think what you need is some time off from school and an appointment with the school counselor, Mr. Small."

"What!? I don't need a counselor. Especially not Mr. Small! I mean, have you even seen him? He's so weird and useless!"

"That's no way to talk to your teachers! That type of attitude is exactly why I'm booking you an appointment with Mr. Small. How does tomorrow sound?"

"Nigel, I gave Gumball a 6 hour detention for tomorrow," Miss Simian interrupted.

With understanding, Principal Brown replied, "I see. I apologize Lucy, but I think his six-hour detention should be spent with Mr. Small instead."

"But Nigel, my love, you know how much I like to see Gumball in detention."

"Yes, well, I think this will be better for him, Lucy dear."

With Miss Simian's detention being rejected, she went on a rampage, smashing up all of Principal Brown's belongings and chucking his filing cabinets across the small office. Miss Simian was releasing many angry sounds that an agitated monkey would.

"Lucy, calm down please."

Gumball was sitting in silence, watching as Principal Brown and Miss Simian talked all lovey-dovey to each other while fighting over what to do about him. Trying to get their attention back on him he pretended to clear his throat. "Ahem."

Hearing this, Miss Simian calmed down after realizing Gumball was in the room. It also caught the attention of Principal Brown, as they had both forgotten he was there.

"I should get back to my class, who knows what trouble they've caused without me there," Miss Simian stated after finally calming down.

Principal Brown looked at Miss Simian, giving her a small nod. "Good idea Lucy, we'll talk about your own problems later." Once Miss Simian had left the room he looked back at Gumball. "Shall we get back on track? Where were we?"

"Talking about what you want to do with me, you hairy monstrosity!" Gumball replied in a furious tone once more.

Shaking his head and pinching his forehead at the failed pronunciation of the insult, he sighed and remembered what he was going to say. "Oh yes, that's right. Remember to come in tomorrow to have a talk with Mr. Small. That will be all for now, I'm going to call your mother in and have a talk with her as well. So just stay here until she comes to get you."

"NO! Don't call mum, she'll kill me for being in trouble again! You know how she is whenever she shows up! Gumball shouted as he began to panic.

"Indeed! I do know what she's like, but she has the right to know about your behavior," Principal Brown commented.

"Bu-"

"No buts! I've heard enough." Pointing into the corner, he continued, "Just sit in the corner over there, in silence I may add, until she arrives."

Moving into the corner, he pulled the chair over and sat down, facing towards the wall. Knowing he had a lot of free time, he wasn't sure what to do with it and quickly got bored. Gumball looked over his shoulders to see that Principal Brown had gotten up from his desk after putting some papers away in a drawer.

The principal looked over to Gumball, seeing he was looking back at him, he decided to tell him where he was going. "I'm going to phone your mother now, stay where you are. I'll be right back." Once he finished, he left the room, leaving Gumball alone in silence.

As he was just starting to get bored and tired of doing nothing, he finally decided to take out the small stone-like object in his pocket and observe it again. He wanted to know what it was, and since he had plenty of time, he may as well use it to figure out what it was.

The whole pebble was now covered in the pulsating light and its pull felt stronger than it had previously. It took hold of Gumball's mind almost instantly this time.

"Gumball, Get angry! They're being unfair. They clearly hate you! Why was Tobias not punished for insulting you first? Why was everyone else in the class who laughed not punished? Why was Darwin angry at you for a simple accident? Why did Anais slap you when you were just thinking about having fun on the weekend? Why did you get detention just for being seconds late? Why do you have to go see Mr. Small?" spoke the pebble just as Gumball's mind began slipping into another trance. The small pebble was swirling dozens of questions around Gumball's head, making him feel confused, angry, upset and delirious among many others.

In this moment, Principal Brown entered the office with Gumball's mother following behind. The Principal had waited in the staff room for her to arrive as he had wanted to let Gumball think about his actions by himself.

As they entered the room, Principal Brown walked over behind his desk and sat down.

Unlike the calm principal, Nicole was fuming.

"Gumball Tristopher Waterson! What have you done this time?!" she shouted, clearly livid.

This snapped Gumball out of his trance, like all the times previously where someone shouted at him to get his attention. Quickly hiding the pebble back into his pocket, he turned around to face his mother and spoke in an irritated voice, "Hey mum."

She looked very confused at this, wondering why her son sounded so annoyed. She looked to the principal for answers, and he explained to her what had happened. Or at least, what he knew had happened, which was insulting and disrespecting the teachers, including himself.

"Mrs. Waterson, your son has been very insulting towards our members of staff, including Miss Simian, Mr. Small and myself. He also insulted another student as afternoon class was about to start."

At the mention of Miss Simian being insulted by Gumball, Nicole had a proud smile on her face as she also detested her herself. Unfortunately, it quickly vanished and turned into anger as she heard it wasn't just her that Gumball had insulted.

"He also has sworn multiple times, which I found to be unusual. This is why I called you in to take him home. I have arranged an appointment for him with the school counselor tomorrow. I have also decided that it would be best for Gumball to take some time off school and calm down." Principal Brown continued, seeing the expressions on her face.

This put utter shock on Nicole's face. Did she hear the Principal right? Gumball swore? Insulted Mr. Small and Principal Brown without any regrets?

"Are you sure? That doesn't sound anything like my son," she questioned.

"Yes Mrs. Watterson, I'm sure. I know it's unusual, so this is why I recommend you take your son home now and have a chat to figure out what's going on."

All Nicole did was nod and simply agree. "Yes, I think it's be best we go now. I'll talk to you soon, Principal Brown."

During this, Gumball simply watched them, annoyed that they were talking as if he wasn't there. Suddenly, he recalled one of the many statements and questions that were fed into his head earlier.

"They clearly hate you," he remembered it saying.

* * *

On the way back home in the car, neither Gumball nor Nicole spoke as they drove home. Both were angry and didn't quite know what to say. She did, however, look at Gumball in the rear-view mirror to see if he was okay.

All Gumball was thinking about while sitting in the back seat of the car was the voice's words:

They clearly hate you.

Feeling very conflicted, he just kept debating the comment, not knowing exactly what to make of it at the time.

* * *

They finally made it home. As they walked through the front door, they could see Richard laying on the sofa watching TV. There were empty bags, cans, bowls and plates of food and drink all over him. Looking down, they saw it covered the chair and carpet too. "Hey, welcome back, Nicole. So, what did the Principal want?"

"Richard, how many times have I told you to clean your mess?" she admonished.

"Uh, is that a trick question?" Richard asked, looked worried before he shrugged with a grin.

Nicole was already frustrated by Gumball, but Richard pushed her over the edge. She punched a hole into the wall and shouted, "RICHARD! We've been over this…you can eat but you have to clean it up!" Not really knowing what to do, she turned back towards the door to get back to work.

"I'm going back to work now, I was only excused to get Gumball from school. Gumball, don't cause any more trouble while I'm gone. I should be back before Darwin and Anais get here."

As Nicole left, Gumball slowly walked up stairs and entered his room at the end of the upstairs hallway. Once inside, he laid in bed thinking about the terrible day he had so far and eventually drifted to sleep.

When Nicole, Anais and Darwin returned home, they called Gumball down when dinner was ready. He couldn't hear them, so he skipped out on dinner as he was still heavily sleeping. He stayed asleep until the next morning.

The day where everything would change…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you got this far thanks for reading. :D
> 
> Remember I try to keep characters personality's as canon as possible so please tell me if I stray too far from that. (Don't count angry gumball)
> 
> Chapter 3 I hope, will be done within a week, more or less.
> 
> (Distractions may get in the way as Attack on Titan S3, My Hero S3, Overlord S3 are airing right now not to mention Discord, Random Vids and many other reasons.)


	3. The Nightmare

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (old notes)  
> Hey guys, I know it's been a few days since the last chapter and I'm sorry for the wait. I've been working on some pretty cool stuff for any fans of my story and other stories in Small Fandoms.
> 
> Can you guess what it is? That's right a discord server! :D  
> It's owned by my Beta Reader Circus4APsycho8 and me. It's not just for this story though, as it's a server for any Small Fandoms but if you're interested or wish to contact me in an easy way then feel free to join as I'm always online.
> 
> https://Discord.gg/UYcH4Uj
> 
> And as always, I appreciate anyone who gives constructive feedback positive or negative. :D
> 
> Here's Chapter 3 I hope you enjoy this dark turn of events hahaha.

There was darkness; it was all around as far as Gumball could see. He had no idea where he was, or why he was there as he walked aimlessly around the dark void, trying to find some sort of answer.

"Hello?! Is anyone there?" he called, confused.

There was no response, so all Gumball could do was walk around without any reason. He began trying to find out where he was, and why. After a short while, he decided to try and call someone again.

"Hello? Somebody?" Getting unusually scared, his eyes darted all around him, looking for something, anything, which could help him.

This is when, in the distance, a very small, dim light was pulsating a purple colour. He knew he had seen it before. It occurred to him that it was the small pebble that he had found on Thursday. Finally recognizing something for once, he cautiously walked towards the flashing, purple pebble and looked down at it from a short distance.

Unlike the previous times he had stared at the eccentric stone, he was not being put into any hypnotic-like trance.

After staring at the pebble for a while, wondering what to do, he decided to go a bit closer and leaned down, reaching his hand out to grab it.

That was when he heard it.

"Gumball, what a surprise! You managed to come here I see." Again, it was the same deep, miserable voice that had spoken to him every time he had looked at the pebble.

This is when something unusual happened: the outer part of the pebble cracked open like it was a shell, revealing a glowing, purple-coloured gem inside.

It surprised Gumball to the extent where he almost fell backwards as he stumbled from the sudden change in the small stone.

"Whaaa!" he yelped as he stumbled backwards. His voice echoed through the dark area that surrounded him.

What happened next was even more surprising; it actually made Gumball fall onto his back as he slowly moved away from the purple gem.

With a flash of light coming out of the gem, a figure appeared. It looked quite like Gumball, the only difference was that he had dark blue fur instead of his usual light blue coat. He wore a black cape which reached down to his waist. His face was twisted into a terrible expression. Looking at his face, he could see that his eyes were almost completely black with only slits of white in the center of his pupils.

Gumball wasn't really sure what to say. Looking up towards the newly-appeared figure, who was floating in the air above the gem where he had emerged from.

"Wh-who are you?" Gumball managed to stutter out after he observed the newcomer for a while.

The shadowy figure didn't reply at first. Instead, he floated down towards the ground and casually walked over to where Gumball was laying. Offering his hand to help him up, Gumball hesitantly accepted the offer. He pulled himself up with the help of the mysterious character that stood in front of him.

"Thanks! I think? Who are you?" asked Gumball a second time.

"I am you, just all the bad, evil and dark parts you hide within yourself." A huge, what could only be described as evil, grin appeared on the almost look-alike's face as he finally answered the question.

"Wha-what do you mean?"

"I mean that you released me." He began glaring at him with a smile. "Thanks for that by the way." He let out a small chuckle but slowly came to a stop as he continued his explanation. "You see, the stone you found only gave you, or me, I should say, power." He quickly darted his gaze towards his hands and just as quickly stuffed them into his pockets as he continued. "It resonated with me and let me speak to you through it."

Gumball raised his eyebrows, looking all over the dark-furred cat. "Wait, so you mean that you're like Zach?"

"In a way I suppose, yes." Taking one of his hands out of his pocket, he stroked his chin in thought. "Though Zach is a completely different part of you, which you erased! Remember? I'm much worse than him. Even more so now that the gem has given me the power it held!"

After glancing up and down at the cat that stood in front, he looked at his face making eye contact and asked questioningly, "But then, how are you here? I-I didn't do anything to create someone like you!"

"You did plenty. You see, all those times you felt angry, even over the simplest things…that was because I was slowly seeping through the depths of your mind into your main consciousness." He turned his head and lifted his arm, pointing towards the gem. It was left lying on the floor behind him. "That gem, which let me feed ideas into your head, helped greatly with that!"

Gumball followed his twin's movements to look at the gem. "No! But that would mean…" He lifted his gaze from the purple rock and glanced back at the similar looking figure, "you-you're responsible for everything bad that happened today!"

"No, no, I wouldn't say everything. Firstly, Anais helped significantly by slapping you. Even if it was to help, it still hurt and caused pain which led you to be slightly mad at her and slightly is all I needed to slip into your mind."

He then began walking in circles, around where Gumball stood, his cape flowing behind him as he moved. "You're the one who chose to be late to class, as you could have made it and let Darwin be late instead, which again, led to you getting angry. You're also the one who tripped over on the wet floor during lunch and left Darwin covered in food. I just fed to your anger in each of those moments"

Gumball didn't know what to say to this, he knew something was wrong with him as he had gotten angrier every time something small or big happened.

"Why?" Gumball managed to shakily ask his darker version. The lighter-haired cat hesitated for a moment, but eventually spit it out. "Why are you doing this to me? You're ruining my life."

"I already told you, most of it was your fault to begin with. I just fed to your desire of being angry using the gem to talk with you and feed questions into your head. You might remember this one in particular: 'they clearly hate you!'' That was me talking!"

"Why-what do you get out of putting lies in my head?" Gumball demands.

"Lies? LIES!?" He began laughing uncontrollably, "You think they were lies? I was just telling you what you already knew. You just decided to hide it away in the depths of your conscience trying to ignore it!"

Gumball paused at this, realizing it wasn't a lie. He actually did think that.

His mother always yelling at him. Darwin getting mad at him over simple mistakes. His dad, more often than not, ignoring him to watch TV and Anais - even as a kid - tried to kill him.

"Yes, they really do," the darker one spoke, knowing what Gumball was thinking.

"They do…" Gumball reiterated, confused as to how the other knew what he was thinking. He looked at him wanting answers. "Wait, wha-what? How did you? Who are you really?"

"As I've said before, I am you and since I am you, I'm able to know what you are thinking. However, if you must require a name I suppose I could come up with something." Once again stroking his chin in thought, he finally thought of something. "Yes, YES! This will do nicely. You can call me Dark Gumball! D-Ball for short."

At this, Gumball couldn't help but fall on the floor, laughing at the name, "Dark Gumball? That's the best you could up with? How original." He stuttered each word as he was laughing too hard to be able to speak properly.

"ENOUGH! I will not have you laughing at me," D-Ball growled. Dark Gumball watched Gumball laugh at the name he came up with. He began to float up into the air and charged some type of purple energy in one of his hands, aiming at the ground next to Gumball and finally released it by chucking it like a ball.

Gumball froze up, instantly silencing his laughter as the bolt of energy landed right next to him. "Wh-what the…what was that?" he nervously yelled, scared that it almost hit him.

"Are you not listening?!" He began to get ready to fire another bolt of energy, but quickly calmed himself down before he just decided to explain. "It was the gem! It didn't just allow me to have a larger presence and more control in your mind. As you held it, it gave me power, real power! The dark energy it carried was being absorbed into your being and transferred over to me!"

There was silence as neither really knew what to say to each other at this point. Gumball knew someone had to break the silence. To do this, Gumball decided to ask his original question, the one that he had at the start of all this.

"Well, what you've said explains a lot. But there is one thing I still don't get." He looked around the dark space, only seeing the fading light of the once brightly-lit gem. "Where are we? Where am I?"

"I will say, I'm not too sure myself on how this is happening." D-Ball then grew a large scowl on his face. "However, I do know where we are, as I'm always here being pushed aside by you!" He said this in a vicious tone, his anger for Gumball and their family clearly visible on his face. "This is inside your own mind. As you went to sleep, you were brought here. My theory is that the gem's depleted power probably had something to do with this!"

Gumball wasn't sure what to make of this. Talking to someone who almost looked like him in his own mind? That sounds crazy! How would that even be possible? His evil clone had to be correct; it must have something to do with the now colourless gem. It was the only thing that made sense at this point.

"You know, I'm grateful to that rock. It set me free from being trapped in the back of your mind. I have always hoped to be free, but your good side was always too strong. Now I have power to go along with my freedom."

Gumball could only think about how this was some type of nightmare. He would wake up soon in his bed like he does every morning. He was only kidding himself. This was all too real, he knew it; it was he just didn't want to accept it.

"You're thinking that this has to be a nightmare and that it can't be real, am I right?" Gesturing towards himself, Gumball, and the surrounding dark void, he said: "I assure you, this is all real. Your body is basically an empty shell right now, only appearing on the outside to be sleeping."

"What do you mean by that?" Gumball questioned, wondering how his body could be empty. It didn't make any sense to him.

D-Ball thought about this for a moment, crossing and tapping one of his fingers on his arms. Eventually, he finally answered:

"Well… you have actually been here before," D-Ball stated, quietly chuckling at how little Gumball knew. "You and Darwin both came here when you tried to stop a nightmare about Darwin kissing Penny."

Gumball wasn't sure what to make of this, but he remembered what he had just heard him say: "Only appearing on the outside to be sleeping." But for how long? How long have they been here talking? Is it still Friday or is it now Saturday morning?

"Hey, how long have I been here and," with a nervous look on his face, he asked, "how do I get out?"

Dark Gumball looked at his good side and began to laugh with a look on his face. That laugh could only be described as sadistic. To him, what Gumball asked was a completely and utterly ridiculous question. He couldn't help but laugh even harder than he was already until Gumball decided to interrupt him. His hands becoming fists with and with an annoyed look on his face shouted, "HEY! What's so funny…?"

D-Ball looked at Gumball, his brows furrowed, eyes as sharp as knives and his mouth in the shape of a grin of unpleasant darkness.

"You're never leaving here. You will be trapped here as I have been for so many years."

Gumball panicked and yelled, "WH-WHAT!?" The blue cat became increasingly worried over what he had just been told.

Dark Gumball glanced over the room, his eyes landing on the gem. Walking towards the gem that was once full of colour, he picked it up, examining its condition. He then came up with an idea, one that would let him finally leave this place without any interference. "Fine. You wish to leave? Come over here." The darker-furred cat was facing away from Gumball who was walking towards him from behind. Dark Gumball continued facing away from Gumball hiding his grin, as it would reveal that he was lying.

Gumball knew his dark twin was untrustworthy, but he didn't really have any other options since he couldn't just wait around and hope for something to happen. As he nervously walked towards him, he finally came to a stop at his side. It was then he knew it was too late, he caught a glimpse of his twin's devilish smirk.

"SURPRISE!" He had charged some energy in the hand that was holding the gem and shoved it into Gumball's chest, effectively making a hole in the center of his torso. As he let go of the gem, he pulled his hand back out. It was dripping with a red, sticky substance. He couldn't explain it really, he just had a hunch that this would do something, something which would benefit him greatly.

"AHHHGHH, MUM!" The heart-wrenching scream was heard by no one since he was alone with the darker version of himself. He fell back onto the floor, blood pouring out from the hole in his chest. He touched his torso and lifted his hand to his face to look at the blood. He began calling for his mother even more than he had before. He just wanted her to fix the unbearable pain he was feeling. His cries for help just ended up echoing into the dark void of nothingness. Despite knowing she wasn't there to help, he continued calling for her, coughing up blood as he spoke. He kept hoping she would save him like all the times she had previously. He kept going until eventually, his eyelids became droopy, his vision started fading, and his breaths were shallow.

The dark, twisted, terrible twin just watched, floating in the air in a seated position with a treacherous smile as Gumball was on the verge of death. D-Ball kept waiting for something to happen.

Suddenly, he could see a faint light coming from the hole in Gumball's chest as the cat was screeching in pain with a voice that could break a mirror. The longer Gumball laid there, the brighter it got. Instead of being a purple colour like it had been previously, it now featured a light blue colour that was almost identical to Gumball's fur. Once it became as bright as it used to be, it started floating upwards out of Gumball's chest, healing the wound while a stream of light was flowing from Gumball into the gem, sucking all of the angry and happy emotions out of him.

The blue-glowing gem had been filled with most of Gumball's emotions, leaving his body with just one emotion: depression. The gem fell to the floor and slid its way across, landing underneath the dark, floating figure that caused these events to happen.

Gumball very sloppily stood up, not caring about anything that was going on anymore. The thoughts of his family and friends hating him were ringing through his head even stronger than they ever have before. Thoughts of him even hating himself now flung through his head. Among them, there were even thoughts of things he would have never dreamed of doing before. Now, these through seemed like good ideas.

Before the depressed Gumball could go anywhere or do anything, D-ball picked up the gem and put it in his pocket before he made his way over to him.

When the corrupt being got close enough, Gumball looked at him with soulless eyes that showed no happiness or anger. They were just hollow, void of anything that could be called hope.

"Hey...Dark Gumball or D-Ball or whatever...I think you were right, my family and friends do hate me," Gumball spoke in his new state of mind.

This is more than I could have ever hoped or for!" Dark Gumball commented, adding a maniacal laugh to his statement. His posture even became that of a maniac: he was laughing, looking upwards with his arms by his sides, bent upwards while his fingers were stiffly curled and pointed into the air.

"Well...I'll have to agree with you there. Also, I'm sorry, but I can't have you wandering around since you won't be doing much of anything anymore," D-Ball spoke to the depressed being after he calmed down. With a click of his fingers, chains came out from the floor and cuffed Gumball's ankles, waist, arms and neck to the ground. "You'll have to stay like that, just like I had to since the day you created me. This is goodbye, Gumball! We'll never see each other again." Saying his last words, he turned his back and walked off into the distance using the newly-lit stone to guide his way to the exit...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Credit goes to the great lilie-pucisse on deviant-art for the appearance of Dark Gumball, the fanart used and the cover art! :D
> 
> Credit also goes to HitmonchanMan also on deviant-art for the name Dark Gumball! :D
> 
> Wow that took a turn didn't it? I told you it was gonna get dark haha. Expect it to get worse the longer this story goes on for :D
> 
> I will say, I'm not entirely sure on when I'll get chapter 4 out. Like before I will try to get it done within a week more or less but things can get in the way.
> 
> For example, I'm going to insomnia 63 later this month where I won't really want to write much as I'm there to play games. :P
> 
> Also, I'll be going back to college in September It's gonna be longer wait between chapters which is why right now I'm trying to release 1 a week.
> 
> Remember I try to keep characters personality's as canon as possible so please tell me if I stray too far from that. (Don't count angry gumball)
> 
> (Distractions may get in the way as Attack on Titan S3, My Hero S3, Overlord S3 are airing right now not to mention Discord, Random Vids and many other reasons such as college and games.)


	4. The Difference

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, here is the next chapter for you!  
> Thanks for sticking around and reading.
> 
> Remember if you want to chat with me you can PM me for a discord link :)
> 
> Finally, as always, I appreciate anyone who gives constructive feedback positive or negative.
> 
> That's all for now enjoy! :D

Gumball opened his eyes, or rather, Dark Gumball did, since he was now in control of their body. The body's mind where he was trapped in for so long. Now, now he was free. Free to go wherever he wanted, talk to whoever he wanted, and, best of all, free to do whatever he wanted. He was now the one in control, he was now the host. On top of that, he had powers to go with it. I can do anything, he thought to himself with a huge smile across his face.

He slowly tried prying himself from the mattress, but the attempt resulted in him tumbling to the floor. A short yell escaped him as he hit the hard carpet. This caused Darwin to start waking up from the sudden scream he heard. Getting a glance at who he thought was still the same old Gumball, he asked, "Gumball! What was that? Are y-"

He was cut off as D-ball shot out the bedroom and dashed into the bathroom, slamming the door shut and locking it while holding his upper right arm in pain. He walked to the mirror, taking off his shirt from the previous day. He didn't bother getting changed to investigate what was the cause of the pain he felt. Taking his shirt off, he threw it onto the floor behind him and looked at his arm.

Sighing, he turned away from the mirror, his head leaning back to still see the reflection to further investigate the pain. Looking at the back of his shoulder in the mirror; it no longer hurt and instead, left a stinging sensation on his arm where the pain came from.

This is when Darwin came knocking on the bathroom door, worried about his adoptive brother.

"Hey, Gumball? Are you okay? What was that scream?" he inquired, still oblivious to the fact that it wasn't the same cat he was used to talking with.

"I-I'm fine!" he accidentally said, talking in a slightly deeper voice than Gumball would have spoken in.

"Are you sure? You sound weird," Darwin questioned, confused at how different his friend's voice was.

Clearing his throat, he tried again, doing his best imitation of Gumball's typical tone.

"Don't worry; I'm fine." He thought it would be best to stay undercover for a while, at least until he had come up with a plan for what he actually wanted to do with his newfound freedom.

It was then Nicole came up the stairs, wanting to see what her son's scream was about. She was slightly worried herself, as she didn't know what the cause could have possibly been. Coming to the top of the stairs, she sees Darwin standing outside the bathroom door with a mix of a worried and confused look on his face.

"Darwin dear, what was that scream about?" she asked, as she finally reached the top of the stairs. Her eyes were locked onto her adopted son who looked up at her as she asked him about the scream.

"Hey Mrs. Mom. Nothing apparently; Gumball said it was fine," Darwin responded in his casual, happy tone, believing that everything was okay. If he thought that if anything was wrong then he would tell him. Nicole was getting somewhat impatient with the unreasonable answer.

"Come on! You expect me to believe that? No one screams like that for no reason!"

She walked over to the bathroom door and began to gently knock on it, "Hey, Gumball? Are you okay, dear? What was that scream about?"

Getting annoyed by the constant pestering from his family, the impostor held in another scream, only letting it out quietly by pushing his jaw together so that his teeth were tightly clenched together.

"I'll tell you what I told Darwin...I'm fine!" he finally replied after the pain went away, once again leaving the stinging sensation there to replace it. "I'm okay. Just let me get ready and I'll see you downstairs."

"Okay...if you say so." Beginning to turn around and head back towards the stairs, she remembered something. "Also, don't think I've forgotten about your behaviour yesterday. I do hope you're in a better mood." After this, she headed down the stairs and back into the kitchen.

The orange fish went back into his bedroom to get ready since he had followed Gumball into the hallway without his shoes on.

D-Ball could tell they had left because he heard the stairs creak as his mum walked down them. Not long after, the bedroom door closed as his brother went back in. This allowed him to relax a bit and properly investigate the pain on his arm which he hadn't had the chance of doing since he had been interrupted and all.

Finally getting a proper look at where the stinging pain was coming from, he could see what was happening.

It was his fur!

It was turning into the dark blue colour that it was when trapped in his mind. It was slowing spreading down his arm, back and around his neck. As he was looking at the difference in colour, he could see it actually begin to spread some more. The light blue fur transforming colours faded into a darker blue. Along with it, the pain from the transformation.

He didn't mind this happening, as he preferred his darker look. He couldn't have it happening now! That was not what he wanted because it would blow his cover before he put any of his plans into action.

As the process of turning seemed to calm down, he put his shirt back on and waited by the door so that he could hear his brother go downstairs before leaving. Not having to wait long, he walked out the bathroom and went into his bedroom to get a scarf - he needed something that could cover his neck.

Searching his room, he found an old scarf in the back of his wardrobe. Shaking the dust off, he wrapped the scarf around his neck and headed downstairs for breakfast.

As he reached the bottom of the stairs and entered the dining room, he could see Darwin, Richard and Anais sitting at the table. As he got closer to the table, he was able to see that they already began eating.

The fake walked towards the table, trying his best to appear cheerful like Gumball normally would. He sat down in the available seat next to Darwin. Their breakfast for Saturday wasn't anything special, it was just a bowl of daisy flakes. He began to pour a bowl for himself along with a glass of milk.

Darwin looked over to him, thinking about what had happened upstairs and noticed he was wearing a black scarf he had never seen him wear before. He then looked at Anais, wondering if she knew anything, but there was no luck. She shook her head sideways to signal that she had no idea.

The fish looked back at Gumball sitting next to him and decided to ask him, "Hey, dude! What's up with the scarf?" He spoke with a completely confused look over his face eyebrows raised, wanting an answer.

D-Ball looked at Darwin and thought it would be best to come up with an answer. "I was just cold. Is there something wrong with that?" he lied while looking Darwin in the eyes with an intense stare.

To Darwin the stare felt strange...it didn't feel like Gumball but he wasn't sure what it was and just brushed it off as his friend still being in a bad mood from yesterday and continued to eat his own bowl of flakes.

Once D-Ball finished serving breakfast for himself (even though he wasn't hungry) he began to eat, or at least, he was going to, until his mother came into the room and began to ask him about what had happened upstairs.

"Gumball! Are you going to tell me what that scream was about?" she asked as she walked into the room, looking at him questioningly. "Also, what's with that scarf?"

The phony sighed in annoyance that he was being asked the same question.

"I've told you it was nothing. And the scarf? It's because I was cold, okay?! Now leave it!" he snapped.

Richard, Anais and Darwin gasped at the way he spoke to Nicole; Gumball has never snapped at her like that before.

"Gumball Watterson! How dare you! You do not speak to me in that tone!" she yelled, her left hand by her side in a fist and her right hand pointing at the cat sitting in the chair. "I see you haven't improved your attitude from yesterday."

Even though he was being yelled at by his mum, he didn't flinch and just continued to eat. He ignored her since he was getting fed up with all of this. "Gumball, don't just ignore me! Look at me when I'm talking to you!" she shouted.

Still, D-Ball didn't acknowledge her and just carried on eating, that was until he finished and his bowl now appeared empty, "Mum, I'm bored, I'm going outside."

"I...y-you...just." She pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration and groaned. "Fine, you can go. Some fresh air might be go-"

Before she could finish, D-Ball had already left the house. He began walking down the street, heading down town to the local tailor so he could get something specially made for him to wear in the future.

Darwin finished what was left of his cereal and chased after his friend to go with him, but was stopped by Gumball when he noticed he was following him.

"Darwin...I want to go by myself. Stop following me!"

The orange fish was very confused about how his best friend was acting yesterday and this morning.

"But we always stay together? Especially on weekends!" he said, feeling somewhat upset that Gumball didn't want to hang with him anymore.

"I know, and that's exactly why I need a break from you! Now as I have already said, leave me alone!" he demanded, walking away, leaving Darwin standing by himself, speechless.

This is when Anais showed up from behind Darwin. She hadn't heard all of what was said, only the second part. "Gumball, what's wrong with you? You're not acting like yourself!"

The poser ignored his sister and continued walking down the sidewalk into town, leaving Anais confused and Darwin feeling like he had just been abandoned. They both stood there by themselves, stunned, by Gumball's new attitude.

Standing there watching as Gumball walked into the distance, they waited until he was no longer visible and went back inside the house to ponder over why Gumball has been acting the way he has been the past day.

* * *

Dark Gumball had just arrived in town and scanned the high street looking for a tailor shop that he thought would be able to do what he needed done. Looking around, he spotted one in the distance down the opposite side of the street on the corner.

Entering the shop, he was greeted at the front desk by the guy who works every single job in Elmore, Larry Needlemeyer. He was a talking cardboard box who happened to have a body, arms and legs.

"Hello sir what…oh, Gumball? How can I help you today?" He was surprised to see Gumball as he thought he wouldn't have any reason to need help from a tailor.

Gumball began to lock the door to the shop using his claws as a lock picking tool and shut the curtains on windows so that no one from outside could interrupt his talk with Larry. "Um...Gumball? What are you doing?" Larry gulped, feeling very nervous about the situation as Gumball had a very sinister presence about him. The new demeanor was a stark contrast to his cheerful loving yet annoying self.

"Oh, nothing much Larry. My dear old friend. We are friends aren't we?" D-Ball said, trying successfully to be intimidating.

"G-Gumball? What do y-you want?"

Dark Gumball chuckled. He could finally be himself while he was here. The lookalike was finally glad he could talk to someone who acted scared towards him. It felt...good, being able to be himself. It gave him a thrill of excitement. "Oh nothing much, Larry. I just want you to make something for me." He turned around from the curtains he pulled shut and began to walk up to Larry who was still standing behind the checkout. "Also, please be so kind to call me Dark Gumball, or D-Ball. I'm fine with either. I don't know how much longer I can take being mistaken for that fool of a disappointment. It's exhausting."

"W-W-Wait you m-mean you're not actually Gumball?" Larry was very confused, as well as scared. This lookalike of Gumball had an intimidating presence as he walked in. "If y-you're not Gumball, then. Then where is he?" Larry stuttered as he began to shake.

"I don't need to explain anything to you! Now, just make me what I ask for and I won't have to get violent with you. I've already had an exhausting morning," he voiced, demanding in a calm tone.

"W-Well even if you're not Gumball you still need to pay." Larry was scared to ask this as the fake Gumball, who was standing on the other side of the checkout, had literally just stated he was in a bad mood to begin with.

D-Ball was officially annoyed now, Larry's comment about needing to pay pushed him over the edge. His eyes began to glare maliciously at the shop keeper, glinting with wicked intent. "You will make me what I ask for! If it has a price, it's you who shall pay it!" Now angrily insisting on it, he wasn't playing calm anymore.

Larry cringed away, scrambling to the next room of the shop where he tailored all the custom requested clothing. The corrupt cat began to use his flying power and menacingly floated in after him. This made Larry even more confused, giving him many more questions than answers. It's not like he had any answers to begin with. D-Ball began to charge a small bolt of energy and shot Larry's left and right leg so that he couldn't run. He made sure he could still use his hands so that he could still sew him what he wanted.

Being shot in the legs by the balls of dark mass, which formed in the dark impostor's hands, Larry yelped in pain as blood poured out from the small holes that scratched the side of his legs.

"I want you to make me a black cape, long enough that it reaches down to my waist. Also, make the cape so that this gem is attached as a brooch around the collar!" He was no longer just asking, he was commanding, ordering him to do it. "You have no choice. There's only two ways: the easy way or the hard way. And right now, you're leaning on the edge towards the hard way. I have to say, I don't think you want that. I know you don't want that." "F-Fine I'll-I'll do it. Just please, don't hurt me anymore then you already have..." he begged nervously. He began to unsteadily stand up on his injured legs and slowly gather the required materials and equipment from around the room.

The malicious blue cat stood there observing what Larry was doing and making sure he wasn't pulling any sneaky tricks. Once Larry had gathered everything he needed on his desk, he looked back towards D-Ball who was just standing there watching Larry's every move.

"Yes?" D-Ball asked not realizing why Larry was staring at him.

"I-I-um, I need to take y-your - I mean, your measurements," he asked tentatively. He didn't want to get anywhere close to this new version of Gumball who he still didn't know anything about.

Dark Gumball chuckled at this since he couldn't help but laugh. He was amused greatly from the fact that he was scared just by asking for his measurements. "You crack me up Larry. Sure go ahead. Though, don't try anything. You know I'm stronger than you, in more ways than one.

Grabbing the tape measure, he walked up to D-Ball and shakily started measuring parts of his body such as his waist, neck and length of his arms, while also trying his best to keep the measuring tape still and stay calm so that it would be accurate.

Completing his measuring, he scuttled away back to his chair, eager to get started and put some distance between him and D-Ball.

Now that he had what he needed, he began to cut up the materials using his scissors that he had previously laid out on the table. Using the different pieces of fabric that he had cut up, he began to sew them together using the loud machine he had just turned on.

Larry hadn't noticed as he was facing away from D-Ball while working on his cape, but Dark Gumball had fell on his knees, holding his arm in pain like he had earlier in the morning. He didn't have any idea how much it could have spread as he had no way of looking at it right now.

The pain finally subsided and went back to its basic stinging sensation. He quickly stood back up, glad that Larry was too busy working on the cape to notice his moment of vulnerability.

After waiting for just a while longer Larry once again spoke, "I'm uh...I'm going to…to need that gem f-for the brooch you asked about." His voice shaking, he held out his hand to D-Ball requesting the stone to be placed into his palm.

Somewhat hesitantly, D-Ball placed the object into Larry's palm so he could get on with it. Receiving the light blue gem, he skilfully attached it to the collar of the cape so that it would form a loop to put his head through.

Once he was done, he picked it up and passed it over to D-Ball, who had been waiting very intently. The imposter's darkened aura filled the room with intensity. As he received his new piece of clothing, he tried it on, finding that it fit him perfectly and was also big enough to wrap himself around it.

Taking it off, he looked around the room, finding a duffel bag that he could store his new clothes in. He flew up and grabbed it from the shelf where it lied, opening it. He placed his newly-tailored cape in the bag and zipped it back up.

Larry had seen him try out the cape and assumed he liked it, as he put it in a bag he found. Even though he was stealing, he didn't have the courage to bring it up and just left it.

"S-So, I'm free now right? I can g-go now right?" Larry asked, hoping that either D-Ball would leave or let him go.

"Yes, I suppose I should be going now. This took long enough as it is, and I still have other things I need to take care of," the obscene cat answered.

"Though, now that I think about it, you know too much about me. I can't have you go around telling everyone that someone who looks like that pathetic cat, Gumball, has gone mad and is currently on the loose." A grin that could have been straight off of a demon from hell appeared on his face. "Can I now?"

"W-What are you going to do? Kill me? You promised to let me go if I did what you asked!" Larry asked, standing up, wobbling on his knees, partly from the injuries but mostly in fright.

"No, I'm not going to kill you. I'm just going to hurt you enough to make sure you can't tell anyone anything about my powers, or even my existence in general," he explained, his grin from the depths of the darkest hell growing even larger than before. His glare was so sharp Larry could feel them cutting into his soul.

Hearing what D-Ball said, Larry bolted for the exit as fast as he possibly could which - unfortunately for him - wasn't very fast thanks to his injured legs. Before he knew it, Dark Gumball was in front of him, blocking his path to the door.

"You think you can run from me!?" he yelled angrily as Larry tried running back in the opposite direction to get to the back entrance. It was too late though, as Gumball had already charged a powerful energy blast in his hand and chucked it at Larry's head causing him to fall over, now unconscious. A nasty hole appeared in his head with blood dripping out. It wasn't bad enough to cause any damage to his brain. This was because, like he said to Larry, he wasn't going to kill him. What he had done was given Larry a hard hit to the head so that it would give him amnesia and hopefully permanently. Or at least long enough to put his plans together.

As he was leaving the shop, he used the phone there to call an ambulance. Since no one knew who he was, he was able to use his deep voice.

Hanging up the phone, he noticed a few other things on the hangers that he liked and thought would go well with his cape. The items he chose included a grey-white shirt and some darker coloured pants than the ones he was currently wearing. He pulled them of the hooks and shoved them into the duffel bag along with the cape.

* * *

Finally unlocking the door with his claw and heading out of the store, he could feel the pain in his shoulder acting up again. Needing to get out of sight, he was luckily able to dash into an alley that he could see was a little bit down the road.

He took his shirt and scarf off chucking them on the floor behind him along with the duffel bag with his costume in it so that he could see how far it was spreading. The next shot of pain caused him to start to growl like a demonic cat.

This time it wasn't just his arm and back that hurt, this time it was in a very odd place. He clenched his right eye in his hands. It felt like it was being gouged out with a spoon. He was very thankful that it didn't last too long because he wasn't sure how much longer he could have lasted.

"Fucking god dammit, stupid transformation thing! Why can't you just do it when I want! Why does it happen so randomly?" he said this out loud, feeling extremely angry about it.

Picking up his shirt and scarf, he noticed a piece of shattered, broken glass on the floor and was able to see his reflection in it. His eye...his right eye was black, the only white being a slit in the middle as his pupil. It looked just like his eyes from when he was trapped in Gumball's mind. His eye turned in the exact same way his fur was turning.

Despite how much he loved his darker look, right now wasn't a good time for it. He still needed to prepare and sort out a couple of other things throughout the day.

Heavily sighing, D-Ball put his shirt back on and ripped off part of the scarf to use it as an eye-patch so that he could keep his right eye covered. Grabbing his bag he walked out of the alley and down the street, heading towards the park.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Credit goes to the great lilie-pucisse on deviant-art for the appearance of Dark Gumball and the cover art! :D
> 
> Credit also goes to HitmonchanMan also on deviant-art for the name Dark Gumball! :D
> 
> Hopefully you guys enjoyed this chapter. I had fun writing Larry being scared of D-Ball lol.
> 
> As you guys know I'll be going back to college in September. So I apologize on long waits between chapters.
> 
> Remember I try to keep characters personality's as canon as possible so please tell me if I stray too far from that. (Don't count D-Ball / Dark Gumball)


	5. The Encounter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone, it's been a while ! But I'm back and I bring a new chapter with me OwO
> 
> Remember if you want to chat with me you can PM me for a discord link :)
> 
> I appreciate anyone who gives constructive feedback positive or negative.
> 
> Please Enjoy! :D

Back at the Watterson's house, Darwin was sitting on the couch in the living room playing on his and Gumball's game console. His parents had gone out shopping at the mall, taking Anais with them. They did ask if Darwin wanted to go as well, but he was still upset about being ditched by his friend earlier this morning.

He was currently playing Kebab Fighter on the console, a game where he would always play versus Gumball, but, right now, he was only playing against the computer. Something he had never actually done before as the blue cat and the orange fish were always stuck together like glue.

"Stupid Gumball, leaving me behind like that! I'll show him I don't need him!" he said, sliding further into the sofa, sulking by himself and holding the game controller as he was mashing buttons.

From the TV, the announcer for the game could be heard:

"End it!" it yelled, announcing for one of the players to finish off the other, who was low on health. Darwin continued to press buttons until he was done for.

"You lose!" it announced soon after what it previously said.

Darwin chucked the controller on the floor, annoyed that he had lost to the computer. He blamed his loss over lack of concentration, which in all honesty wasn't wrong. He couldn't stop thinking about Gumball, wondering where he had went earlier leaving him behind. But, he did know that right now, he should be at school for the next few hours. Nicole had told him during dinner last night what happened and why Gumball sent home.

He decided there was no point sulking about it right now and decided he would just ask Gumball when he got home later on. In the meantime, he didn't have much else to do, as he was currently home alone. Not really knowing what to do, he finally decided on what he thought would be best right now: getting more sleep.

Walking upstairs, he went into his shared bedroom after reaching the landing. Closing the door shut, he stepped out of his green and white shoes and climbed inside his cramped fishbowl. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep as he was pretty drained from feeling down all morning. Slowly drifting to sleep, he closed his eyes into the darkness of slumber.

Darwin was falling for what felt like ages, but, he soon came to a stop as he hit the floor, he had no possible idea where he was. All he could see was a large white room that surrounded him, a single oak brown door stood tall at in the middle of the room.

"Hello!?" he yelled confusingly, as he had no idea where he was, or what this place was. He wasn't even sure if anyone would answer him, or if he even wanted someone to answer him.

Darwin darted his eyes around the room and looked back towards the door, the only object that was in the white void with him. He steadily made his way over to the mysterious door, continuing to constantly look around, making sure nothing could jump out at him. Once he finally made it to the door, he shakily grabbed the handle, not sure whether to turn it.

He was very skeptical about opening the door, having no possible clue where it would lead. Not really seeing any other options available to him, Darwin cautiously opened the door just enough to peek inside. Not seeing much of anything all he could do was open the door further until it was wide open.

Finally, being able to get a good look inside of the room the door led to, he couldn't see anything. It was pitch black compared to the white that surrounded the brown door. Darwin could feel a strange energy coming from inside the dark room; it was very unsettling.

The orange fish walked anxiously into the pitch-black room. Once he was inside, the door shut behind him, locking him inside. Darwin shrieked loudly from the sudden noise of the door slamming behind him. Turning around, he grabbed on the handle and tried pulling it open. Without any luck, Darwin quickly gave up and turned back around to investigate his new surroundings.

There wasn't much for him to see, there was...nothing. Nothing but the closed door he had just entered from. It was then that he felt a small gust of wind, which wasn't anywhere close to normal. It was freezing cold, making Darwin shiver as it flew by him.

"That's odd…why would there be wind here?" Darwin thought to himself, muttering it out loud. It was odd because there weren't any openings to anywhere for wind to enter from; it was just kind of there, lingering around.

Not having much of a choice of where to go, he thought that he would follow the cold gales of wind so that he could find out where they were coming from, as it was the only thing he was able to think of doing at the time.

Following the direction the wind was coming from, he could have sworn he saw Gumball in the distance.

"Gumball? Is that you buddy?" he yelled across the void, echoing into silence as it went out into the distance.

He continued to follow where the cool breeze was coming from, it was getting colder the closer he got to what he thought must have been the source. He knew it! Now he was closer he could see clearly that it was Gumball laying there in the distance.

"Hey, Gumball! Over her-what the?!" he trailed off, changing what he wanted to say as he noticed something, unfortunately only catching a glimpse of it.

Suddenly, the door which he left far back behind him, opened. The ajar door let in a stream of white light into the dark void. The wind became so strong it started pushing him back towards the open door. Being pushed back, Darwin soon realized that it wasn't the wind getting stronger. Instead, it was actually the door that opened, sucking everything into it like a black hole.

"Gumballllllllll?!" he yelled loudly as he was being pulled back into the other room, wondering why he was laying there in the distance. It didn't take long for Darwin to be sucked back into the white room that he had started from. Once he was back into the blinding white void, the oak door shut on his face, just barely missing the chance to decapitate him.

As the door slammed shut on his face, the loud noise made him jump.

Anais was in the room knocking on Darwin's fishbowl, "Darwin wake up!"

He shot up right out of his fishbowl and fell over, landing on the floor face first. "Huh, what?! Where am I? Ouch!"

"Darwin! It's just me, Anais, Your sister...?" she said this, slightly annoyed. "I've been knocking on your fishbowl for ages!"

"Oh...um, sorry? What's up?" Darwin asked, rubbing his eyes from just waking up and curious why his sister was trying to wake him up in the first place.

"Mum brought back some takeaway. She asked me to see if you were in here and to tell you to come down."

The fish pushed himself back up off the floor back into a standing position. "Alright, thanks Anais." Darwin was thankful that she told him, despite the fact it took her a while to wake him up. "I'll be down in a second."

Anais nodded "If you don't hurry then dad's going to eat it all." She left the room with a slight smirk, closing the door behind her.

This left Darwin alone to think about what just happened in that dream he had. It was just a dream...right? He thought to himself, feeling shook up from the events that took place.

Thinking back on the dream, he was wondering why Gumball was there. It seemed as if the cat had been attached to what he could only describe as a chain - maybe multiple? He wasn't sure since he only managed to see a flash of the scene that appeared on display in front of him before he was pulled out of there.

Pondering the events that took place, Darwin put his green and white shoes back on. Looking at the alarm clock, it displayed the current time, four o'clock PM, as the numbers flashed with a red glow. He was hoping that Gumball would be back soon, wanting to tell him about the dream he just went through. Seeing what the time was, he opened the door and stepped out onto the landing.

As he made his way down the stairs, he was greeted at the last step by his mum, "Hello, Darwin sweetie. Had a nice nap?"

"Yeah, I think so?" He wasn't sure if he could call it a nice nap, especially after what he thought he saw.

"Hm, you don't sound like you just had a nice nap." Nicole was skilled at knowing when something was wrong. "Perhaps some Joyful Burger will cheer you up."

Darwin stepped off the stairs and walked to the dining room to eat, "Yeah, I hope so too." He quietly said, the words muffled under his breath.

(3 hours earlier)

Back with Dark Gumball, it was one o'clock PM. By now, he was supposed to be at Elmore Junior High for the appointment with Mr. Small that Principal Brown gave Gumball. Instead, he skipped out on it and just arrived at Elmore Park.

Looking around the park, he walked through the huge gate at the entrance and continued down the path, eventually deciding to sit down on one of the benches that were scattered around.

Sitting on the bench, he placed his bag next to him and began looking around.

"Where are you, hmm? You can't be far from here," he quietly murmured to himself. D-Ball was looking for someone: someone who would be able to help him succeed with his plans.

He decided to wait around for a while, since he knew that he would find this person eventually. Dark Gumball had been sitting on the bench for a couple of hours, the time being three o'clock. It was then that he saw someone in the distance: the one he had been looking for.

Grabbing his bag he stood up from the old wooden bench, he sneaked over, trailing behind the odd-looking character from a distance. Following him, he disappeared behind the building for the public toilets.

It was conventionally out of sight as the back of the building was hidden by a wooden area of trees. It also helped that it was getting cloudy, as it meant other people were leaving the park before it began to rain.

D-Ball looked at his prey as he pulled on something. It was a trap door hidden among the leaves, dirt and grass. The guy climbed down, entering through the open trap door before closing it behind him. Dark Gumball waited a while before re-opening the door and entering it himself.

Once inside, there was a huge tunnel that led to a metal door at the end. No longer in public, he used his powers to fly and hovered his way through the tunnel. Now standing outside the door, he could hear who it was he was after talking to himself on the other side.

"I will get my revenge on Gumball! He shall pay for what he did to me!" the guy yelled, unknowing that D-Ball heard what he said, let alone know that he was even there. "My next plan is perfect! Wait…what the-?!"

D-Ball charged some energy in his hands and fired at the metal door, knocking it down and making it shoot across the room to the other side. A sudden idea came into his head. He thought that this would be the perfect moment to test out one of his other available powers: teleportation.

"Who's there?!"

He cautiously walked towards the broken doorway, leaving his bag by the entrance so he could investigate the damage that was done as he entered the lair.

"Hello there, Rose!" D-Ball said jokingly, fully aware that his name was Rob.

Rob was a normal blue cyclops before Gumball and Darwin forgot about him and almost left him in the void. Rob, trying to escape, grabbed onto the back of Mr. Small's van as they left, but without any protection, the void had made him disfigured. His body now instead of blue, appeared like static from a TV.

"What? Gumball? How did you get there? How did you find this place?" He panicked and just started asking tons of questions, eventually realizing that he said his name wrong. "How many times do I have to tell you? My name isn't Rose, it's ROB!" Rob was incredibly annoyed as Gumball always got his name wrong. "Rupert? Reggie? Ronald? Roger?" Knowing it greatly frustrated Rob, he just continued guessing his name incorrectly, or at least, until he got bored.

Angered by the mockery of his name he had enough, "My name is ROB! Get it RIGHT!" he yelled, shouting directly into the blue cat's face.

"Oh whatever, you're no fun. I know your name is Rob." D-Ball casually walked around the room glancing around at the different machines and set of monitors that showed CCTV footage. Completely ignoring the fact that Rob was looking at him, his patience disappearing, he continued looking around at the equipment in the room.

"Answer my questions, Gumball! How did you find this place?" Rob was now on the verge of blowing up and demanded to know what was going on.

D-Ball sighed. Having to explain himself again after telling Larry earlier was a pain. Even so, he knew he had to. "I'm here to get your help."

Rob couldn't help but laugh; he thought that it had to be a joke. He thought to himself, Gumball needs my help? He slowly came to a stop to question it. "Why would you, my nemesis, need my help? Even if you did, I would never help you!"

Dark Gumball simply stood there with an unpleasant smile spread across his face, "I'm not your enemy, Rob. Gumball is gone, and I plan to keep it that way!"

Rob was instantly confused by what he was just told. "Wait, what do you mean? You're right here."

"I may look like Gumball, but I can assure you, I'm not him. Soon, I will no longer have to put up with looking like him either." D-Ball began to take of his temporary eye-patch, scarf and shirt, "You can see, can't you? I'm not your enemy...I'm not Gumball."

"Your fur...and your eye... Who are you?" Rob stood his ground unknowing to the dangers that stood in front of him.

"You can call me Dark Gumball, or D-Ball. It doesn't matter to me." The partially-uncovered cat flew up close into Rob's face. "But never refer to me as Gumball."

Rob gulped nervously but refused to let it show on his face. "Well, D-Ball. What did you want my help with?"

D-Ball turned away, backing off from Rob's face, making some room between them, "Nothing too hard, only taking control over Elmore." The demented cat brushed over his statement nonchalantly. Tilting his head and looking back at the disfigured cyclops, he added, "Of course...that is only step one, and it's all you need to know for now!"

"How the hell are you flying? Not to mention taking control of Elmore? Are you crazy?" Rob was getting frantic, as many things were unclear to him.

Dark Gumball glided back down to the floor and walked around the room, once again investigating all the machinery on display, "I have many powers Rob...but more importantly, was all this your handiwork?"

"Um? Yes, it was. Why?" He was confused and didn't understand why D-Ball wanted to know.

He slowly walked over to Rob, being a casual distance away from him. "That's great! In that case, you're going to make me something."

Rob chuckled, finding the cat's request quite amusing. "Make you something? What makes you think I would ever do that?"

Dark Gumball quickly looked into Rob's eye, sharply staring at him, "I do apologize, perhaps I wasn't quite clear on that. Let me rephrase it for you." His eyes still sharp, a slightly annoyed look appeared on his face.

"You will make me something."

Rob didn't want to give in, but knew he had to. After sighing, he decided to agree. "Fine! Just stop looking at me like that." Giving in, he wanted to know what he agreed to. "What is it you want me to make anyway?"

D-Ball crossed his arms, his look changing to one of a schemer. "I would like you to make me a device, one that can open a portal to the void. You remember that place, don't you?" he said with a smirk, knowing fully well it was an extremely bad memory for Rob.

Rob grimaced at the comment and did his best to ignore it. "What, that's what you want? No way am I making something that dangerous! I destroyed the remote which could do that myself. Though, you wouldn't even know about that."

"Hmm, true. I can't seem to recall anything about a remote, but from the sounds of things it was a device that could access the void. Right? And If that's the case, you will make it, or at least, something similar for me." He was getting frustrated by the constant refusal Rob was giving him.

Rob walked away from where he was standing and sat down in a chair next to all the surveillance monitors. "As I said, I'm not going to make something like that for you. If you can't see that, then you're as stupid as Gumball." This time, Rob crossed his arms and shut his eye. He began to grow a smug appearance on his face and finished off his last comment. "Perhaps even more so than him."

It happened so fast: Rob was now laying on the floor, next to his chair, gasping for breath as the air got knocked out of his lungs. "You do not insult me like that. Never compare me to Gumball again or it may be your last day here."

What happened was, after Rob compared D-Ball to Gumball, D-Ball became angrier then he had ever been previously. Teleporting right into Rob's face, he wound his arm back as far as it could go, creating a fist and punching him right in the gut.

"Now, I insist you make me what I want for when I come back tomorrow morning. It would be in your best interest to keep me pleased."

D-Ball put his clothes back on and headed towards the door to leave. He said everything he wanted to say and now has Rob to use for anything he needs.

"Well, see you tomorrow morning, Roy." He couldn't help himself but tease Rob one last time before he left.

"Wa-" Rob was cut off as he started coughing. He was still on the floor, but now, he rested on his knees. "Wait, where are you going?"

"I got somewhere I need to go, so I'll be back in the morning. I expect what I want will be completed by then," he said, putting his disguise back on before turning and then walking away from where Rob was on the ground.

As D-Ball turned to walk away he collected his bag from the entrance and vanished, using his teleportation ability to go above ground to where the entrance of the underground base was, since he can only teleport short distances.

Once back above ground, D-Ball grew a grin and made his way out of the park, bag in hand walking down the street.

He was on his way to greet someone. Someone who would not be expecting him…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Credit goes to the great lilie-pucisse on deviant-art for the appearance of Dark Gumball and the cover art! :D
> 
> Credit also goes to HitmonchanMan also on deviant-art for the name Dark Gumball! :D
> 
> Hey guys, sorry it's been a while. As you may know, I've started college recently so I was busy for the past few weeks. The good news is that right now I'm off for a week and a half and was finally able to get this chapter out :) I have to return to college on November 5th so I do hope to get another chapter out before then.
> 
> finally, as usual, I try to keep characters personality's as canon as possible so please tell me if I stray too far from that. (Don't count D-Ball / Dark Gumball)


	6. The Copy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I'm back with chapter 6 :D I had completed this a while ago but delayed it's release so that I had something to upload while I was busy with College.
> 
> Now it's almost the Christmas Holidays I decided to upload the chapter as I can then write Chapter 7 during the Holidays.
> 
> Remember if you want to chat with me you can PM me for a discord link :)
> 
> I appreciate anyone who gives constructive feedback positive or negative.

Back at home, Darwin was seated at the table next to Nicole eating dinner. Though, rather than eating, he was just staring at his plate and the empty seat next to him, where Gumball's presence was missing. The only thing on his mind was the weird dream he had; he couldn't stop thinking about how defeated Gumball looked before he woke up.

Nicole noticed something was off with Darwin when he first came downstairs.

"Hey dear, wh-" she was interrupted by the ring of the phone. Nicole looked over at it, annoyed. She began to get out of her chair and walk over to where it was ringing. She picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Hello, it's Principal Brown. Am I talking to Mrs. Watterson?" came the voice from the other end.

Nicole was surprised to get a phone call from him. "Yes, that's me. Is something wrong?" she replied, confused as to what the call was about. Shortly after responding, she realized that it probably had something to do with Gumball again.

"Yes, well…are you aware that Gumball hasn't shown up yet for his arranged appointment with Mr. Small?" explained the principal and confirming Nicole's hunch.

Nicole didn't understand what was going on: even when asking her kids what was wrong, no one would tell her. Gumball had just been acting completely unnatural and Darwin was clearly upset about it, but they would just say "I'm fine" or "Leave me alone". Gathering her thoughts, she told the Principal that she would handle it.

"No, I wasn't aware. I'll have a talk with him when he gets home."

"Alright then Mrs. Watterson. I do hope you can find out what's wrong with Gumball. I'll contact you again on Monday to inform you if his behaviour has improved."

"Yes, that sounds good. I'll talk to you then," she agreed. Sighing, she hung up the phone and went to sit back down at the table.

While Nicole was on the phone, Anais had finished eating her last french-fry and had begun talking to Darwin in an attempt to cheer him up.

"Hey Darwin, are you still upset about Gumball leaving you behind earlier?" she asked, looking questionably at him. "Because if that's the case, you shouldn't be. I'm sure you'll both be hanging around each other again as soon as tomorrow comes."

Darwin still hadn't eaten anything, gaining Richard's attention to his plate. "Hey son, you going to eat that?"

Anais looked over at Richard. "Dad this isn't the time for that!" she admonished in an annoyed tone with a displeased expression on her face.

Richard felt bad, but before he said anything, Darwin pushed his plate of food across the table over to him.

"Thanks son; you're the best!" Richard began gulping down the plate of food, feeling great again.

Darwin looked over to his sister with a smile. "Don't worry, Anais. I'm fine. Like you said, everything will be normal tomorrow." His smile disappearing, he continued under his breath: "It will be, It just has to…it has to…"

Darwin got out of his chair and left the table. On his way to the stairs, he bumped into his mum. "Oh, hey Mrs. Mum."

Nicole felt something bump into her as she made her way back to the dining table. "Hey sweetie, where are you going?" She was worried since she didn't get a chance to talk to him earlier.

The orange fish looked up at her, trying to put on a fake smile. "I'm just heading back upstairs," he replied, trying his best to sound positive.

She knew her son's smile wasn't genuine, but even knowing that, she wasn't really sure what to do. "And what about your dinner? Did you finish eating?!" she exclaimed with concern.

Not really sure what to say, he just decided to tell the truth: "I let Mr. Dad have it. I'm not feeling that hungry right now," he responded with worry present in his voice.

Nicole, still concerned about Darwin not eating anything, made sure that he knew food was still available. "Well, if you're sure, you can go...but just in case! There's some pudding in the fridge if you feel like having something to eat later."

Looking towards the stairs, he began to walk over to them, leaving the living room with his last few words: "Alright, thanks Mrs. Mum," he uttered with little effort. Making his way over to the stairs, he began his ascent to his room, going out of sight.

Darwin, entering his room, closed the door behind him and sat down on the bottom bunk of the bed. He just sat there in deep thought about everything strange that had happened the past couple days. Alas, there was no clear answer he could think of: everything was just a big mess of strange occurrences, from Gumball's mood swings to the dream he had. All he could do was sit there and think about it all.

* * *

Elsewhere, Dark Gumball was just arriving at the front door of his next confrontation. He reached his arm up to knock on the door and waited for someone to answer. The front door opened revealing Patrick Fitzgerald, Penny's father.

"Hey, is Penny home?" asked Dark Gumball.

Looking down to see who spoke, he saw that it was Gumball at the door. "Oh, it's you Gumball. Here to see Penny I suppose?" Patrick didn't like Gumball very much, but he put up with him: after all, he did save his daughter from being ran over by him, "I'll tell her that you're here."

D-Ball flinched at being mistaken for Gumball, but he held it in, calming himself down.

Patrick called out to his daughter, yelling up the stairs: "Penny, Gumball's here to see you!" his voice echoed throughout the house, notifying everyone there.

Penny heard her father calling her from downstairs. She quickly made her way out of her room and down to the front door so she could see him. Going outside, she closed the door behind her for some privacy.

When she looked over at Gumball, she instantly knew something was wrong. He wasn't being silly or goofy. Instead, he had a serious presence surrounding him. There was a bag on the floor next to him as he leaned his back against the porch pillar with his arms crossed.

"Um…hey Gumball. What brings you here?" she asked, feeling nervous about the presence she could feel surrounding Gumball.

D-Ball once again flinched with anger at being called Gumball. He glared at Penny, trying to calm himself down. He knew it wasn't their fault, since he was hiding it from them and couldn't possibly know any better. Even so, it still got to him and he hated every bit of it.

"Hey Penny. I'm not really here for any special reason. I just wanted to tell you that you that I love you more than he ever could. You see, he's weak. He couldn't even tell you how he felt. I can though, and once I have accomplished my goal, you will be mine!"

This was a lot to take in, especially when some of what he was saying didn't even make any sense. "What? What are you talking about Gumball?" she asked, confused as to what was going on.

Being called Gumball yet again frustrated him, but he let it go and instead allowed Penny to use it for the time being. "Hmm, you may refer to me as Gumball for now, but once I have all my pieces together, that name will vanish from everyone's mind. Now if you'll excuse me, I have other plans to think about." D-Ball stopped leaning against the pillar and picked up his bag before he began walking down the steps.

Overwhelmed by the huge amount of nonsensical information being thrown at her, she could only repeat herself. "Again, what? Can you hear yourself? You're talking nonsense!" D-ball was stopped as Penny had spoken to him again.

Turning back around, he faced Penny with a dark glare.

"You shall see my dear. In the future, you'll come to me yourself. Now as I said before, I'll be taking my leave." With that, he vanished from sight, using his short-distance teleportation, which left Penny in a confused mess.

The blue cat walked slowly and darkly along the street, swinging his bag behind him. He was thinking about which other plans could help him get what he wanted. That's when it came to him; he stopped in his tracks and grew a malicious smirk. It was his best yet most disturbing idea yet and he loved it. The only thing was: he wasn't quite sure how to go about it.

Pondering this new vile idea that he had, he continued walking along the street to go to his current home. He hated it there - it was Gumball's home, not his - but, with this new idea, he would no longer have to put up with living there.

Suddenly, like the previous times before, his body starting throbbing in tremendous amounts of pain as it transformed more of his light blue fur into a dark blue colour. The feline fell to his knees, dropping the bag on the floor next to him. He began clenching anywhere he could on his right side and started screeching, trying to hide it under his breath, holding it in as best he could. It was an open area and he didn't want to grab any unwanted attention.

This time around, the pain stayed for a while. It hurt everywhere on his right side, from the top of his head down to his back paw. After a while, it began to slowly subside, the pain leaving him alone for what would hopefully be a while.

After D-Ball regained his composure, he stood up and grabbed his bag before he continued his walk back home. Luckily enough, no one had seen him in his weakened state; it would have been problematic if anyone would have found out. Right now there was no way for him to see how much he had changed, so he had to get back home quickly to look in the mirror and cover it up.

Back on his feet, he continued on home, picking up the pace to reduce the risk of anyone seeing him. He was still quite far away, so he decided it would be better to fly. Making sure no one was watching, he began hovering, getting higher and higher. Eventually, he was so high that anyone who saw him would think he was just a bird.

* * *

Finally, after flying his way home, he was hovering above his current residence. He decided to use his teleportation to appear back on the ground outside the front door. Knowing he had to get to a mirror quickly, he slammed the door open and shut then ran upstairs into the bathroom, locking the door.

The sudden, loud slamming of the door could be heard throughout the house, surprising everyone. Nicole went to the front door but had just missed him before he went upstairs. Both Darwin and Anais looked out of their bedroom doors into the hallway only to see a blue blur dash into the bathroom.

Nicole made her way upstairs, standing just outside the bathroom door.

"Gumball Watterson! Get out here, we need to talk!" she yelled, greatly frustrated that Gumball hadn't gone to see Mr. Small like he was supposed to do. Not only that, but she was also worried about how he's been acting recently.

D-Ball ignored the fact Nicole was yelling at him to come out using the name he hated. He was more interested in seeing the progress of the transformation to his true self. Putting the bag down by the door, he began taking off his clothes to investigate the changes.

He couldn't believe it: the process was happening faster than he could have imagined. His entire right side was now covered in dark blue fur that went down from his head to his neck and shoulder, travelling all the way down his arm and paw before progressing further down and covering the right side of his torso and finally his right leg and back paw.

It was getting too risky to continue trying to hide it. He didn't want to use his new plan so fast after thinking about it, but he had to do something to get away before he was discovered. Thinking about it for a while with Nicole still shouting for him to come out on the other side of the door, he decided that he would have to put his plan into action later at night while everyone was sleeping.

Coming to a decision, he put his clothes back on along with his makeshift eyepatch, hiding his discoloured fur and mutated eye. Next, he hid the bag in the bathtub, pulling the curtains shut slightly to help hide it since it was not used in the evenings.

Preparing himself, he opened the door and shoved his hands into his pockets. Nicole was standing outside on the landing.

"You finally decided to come out, have you?" she stated, looking fairly annoyed.

D-Ball, feeling fairly annoyed himself said whatever he could to get out of talking with her. "Can we do this in the morning, I want to go to sleep!" Of course lying, he wasn't feeling that tired but he just couldn't cope being talked to like he was Gumball.

Nicole had to think about it for a moment, closing her eyes in thought. "I…" She hesitated, wanting to talk to him about it right now but eventually, she gave in. "Ugh, fine, but promise me you will tell me what's going on with you in the morning. Okay?"

"Fine!" D-Ball agreed without any reluctance. He agreed so easily because, if his plan succeeded, then he wouldn't be here in the morning and would no longer have to hide his true self.

With that, Nicole turned and went back downstairs, stopping midway.

"Hey, you sure you don't want any food before going to sleep? There's some leftover Joyful Burger we saved with your name on it."

D-Ball was feeling slightly hungry. Even so, he didn't want to put up with any more annoyances from this so-called family of his. "No thanks, I'd rather just go to sleep right now." With that, he turned and walked into his bedroom, seeing Darwin sitting on the bottom bunk bed.

The orange fish had been waiting for Gumball after seeing him run into the bathroom.

Darwin released a sigh before beginning. "Hey Gumball. Can I talk to you about something? I think it's really important but I'm not sure how or why."

"What? How can you think something is important and not know if it actually is?" D-Ball asked, chuckling a little at the contradictory notion as he closed the door behind him and walked over to the ladder by the bunk bed. "You're dumber than I thought." When he finished, he grabbed the ladder and climbed up to his bed on the top.

Darwin was getting upset by these recent comments Gumball was making, "Come on, dude! You've been acting really strange lately! You wouldn't have said that a few days ago, so you can't mean it!" He brushed it off, not believing he meant it.

Trying to get back on track to his original question, he asked it again: "I'm serious though. Can you please listen to me?" the fish begged, hoping to get Gumball's attention again.

"Ugh fine I'll listen. But after will you let me get some sleep?" D-Ball agreed begrudgingly, hoping he would finally get some silence afterwards.

Darwin was happy that Gumball finally agreed to listen and began to explain the weird dream he had earlier to him. The fish had hoped that the blue cat could possibly make some sense of it all, especially since it was so strange to him.

The more Darwin explained what his dream was about, the more interested D-Ball became. He knew Darwin's dream wasn't a good sign for him, so it gave him all the more reason to commence his plan later in the night.

Not wanting to give anything away, D-Ball decided to pretend that he didn't know anything.

"Okay? Cool dream, I guess..." he replied, trailing off into thought.

Though, in truth he really didn't know why Darwin had this dream and it piqued his curiosity.

"What? Is that all you have to say about it?" Darwin questioned, startled and confused by the simple response to his crazy dream. Darwin wasn't sure what he should say about such a simple answer, especially when he's been thinking about it himself since he woke up.

"Yeah, I mean, it's just a dream isn't it? So there's nothing to worry about," D-Ball stated simply, wanting to be left alone so he could think about things in peace. Upon realizing that Darwin was waiting for him to continue, he spat out another response. "Now, can you please leave me alone and let me get some sleep?!"

Darwin agreed, knowing it was probably for the best. "Yeah, okay. See you in the morning." He was getting tired himself from all the thinking he had been doing, so he also decided to go to sleep himself. Climbing into his fishbowl, he crouched down, squeezed into the tight space and closed his eyes.

* * *

It was now early in the morning, a few hours after the pair had gone to sleep. D-Ball got up and looked over the top bunk to see the flashing number on the alarm clock. Its red light being the only source in the darkness, he could easily see it show the time, which was roughly three o'clock.

Not wanting to cause any noise, he decided to teleport from his bed to the bathroom. He was ready to commence his new plan to get away from everyone.

Appearing in the bathroom, he instantly locked the door and grabbed his bag from the bathtub, where he'd left it the night before. He quickly unzipped the bag and got undressed, swapping Gumball's tatty clothes out for his new outfit which fit his tastes much better. He especially loved the brooch around the neck of the cape, as it was the source of his powers.

Once fully dressed, he decided it was a good idea to test his powers before the big event. Lighting up a ball of purple energy into his hands, he stared at the flames, appreciating its strength and slowly letting it dissipate.

Feeling stronger than he ever had since taking control of this body, he was ready to use one of his powers he was rather uncomfortable with. That's because he knew it would take a lot of strength to accomplish and meant he would have to get away quickly afterwards.

D-Ball lifted his right hand and placed it on the brooch. Using his left, he pointed it in front of him and closed his eyes, concentrating on what or rather who he wanted to appear. His left hand started to glow with the purple energy along with a figure where it was pointing. Quickly draining D-Ball's strength, he fell to his knees while still focusing on his creation.

He must have been at it for close to three minutes; it was his first time using this power. Completed exhausted and out of breath, he opened his eyes, looking at what he made. It was exactly what he wanted: a perfect clone of Gumball which would do anything he asked of it.

Continuing to admire his perfect clone of Gumball, he finally caught enough breath back that he could stand up and talk.

Taking command of his clone, he gave it his first and only instruction:

"Hey, I need you to put these clothes on and kill yourself for me." Knowing he had to leave as soon as possible, he decided it was best for the clone to decide how to do it itself. "Choose any way you like, but do it before anyone wakes up and make it look like a natural suicide."

The clone agreed, simply nodding and getting dressed in Gumball's clothes before unlocking the door to the bathroom and leaving. The dark cat thrived on this idea, sprouting a huge sneer and getting a most vicious look in his eyes.

D-Ball, with the small amount of energy he currently had, teleported out of the house and slowly flew away into the dark, early-morning sky. The only thought on his mind right now was if the fake death of Gumball would actually fool them like he wanted it to.

* * *

The Gumball clone walked downstairs and quietly entered the kitchen to look through the cupboards, seeing what he could find. After looking through most of them, he found some rope which he could use to easily tie a noose. Deciding on that being the way to go, he went back into the living room.

He swung the noose up and around a hook that was sticking out of the ceiling. The hook was used for putting up decorations during holiday seasons. Getting the rope around the hook, he tied it to the rope so it wouldn't fall down.

Using a piece of pen and paper which laid on the table, he wrote a simple but believable suicide note and left it on the table folded in half. Finally, he stood up on the table. Slowly wrapping the noose around his neck, he tightened it in place so it was almost strangling him.

Pushing the table away from under him, his emotionless body was left dangling from a piece of swinging rope, choking away as he was only a clone obeying his creator's orders.

The Sunday morning would be a great shock to all who heard the news. Only if they knew it wasn't actually Gumball.

Only if they knew...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Credit goes to the great lilie-pucisse on deviant-art for the appearance of Dark Gumball and the cover art! :D
> 
> Credit also goes to HitmonchanMan also on deviant-art for the name Dark Gumball! :D
> 
> I just want to say quickly, if you ever have thoughts of depression or suicide you should always talk to someone, whether it be friend, family member, or a teacher you know, even a hotline number. Just don't stick at it alone and let it get to you, as that can only makes it worse.
> 
> Now despite being a bit gloomy towards the end here I hope you enjoyed the chapter :)
> 
> As I mentioned at the top I won't be able to have chapter 7 ready till around the Christmas Holidays So I hope you can wait patiently for it.
> 
> Finally, as usual, I try to keep characters personality's as canon as possible so please tell me if I stray too far from that. (Don't count D-Ball / Dark Gumball)
> 
> As I mentioned at top I won't be able to have chapter 7 ready till Christmas Holidays So I hope you can wait patiently for it.
> 
> Finally, as usual, I try to keep characters personality's as canon as possible so please tell me if I stray too far from that. (Don't count D-Ball / Dark Gumball)


	7. The Surprise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, Merry Christmas or Happy new years depending on when I upload this haha.
> 
> Apart from that I don't really have much to say to my A03 audience :P 
> 
> Also remember that if you want updates or wish to chat with me you can PM me for a discord link :)
> 
> On that note, Hope you enjoy this Chapter :D
> 
> I appreciate anyone who gives constructive feedback positive or negative.

It was Sunday morning, the final day of what was supposed to be a relaxing weekend. Sadly, this wasn't the case for the Watterson family since Gumball had been acting strange and making everyone worry about him since Saturday morning. Even before that, on Friday, just not as much. Now, it was Sunday.  _A whole new day to put up with Gumball's newfound attitude,_ Nicole thought to herself as she climbed out of bed with a yawn and a stretch. Richard was still lying down next to her, snoring away. He only got out of bed when he could smell breakfast being cooked.

Standing up and still feeling groggy from just waking, Nicole made her way into the living room. As soon as she walked into the living room, her senses told her right away that something wasn't right. She could smell trouble from miles away if it involved her family. Following her senses, she steadily looked around the room prepared for what she thought would be the worst situation.

Finally looking upwards, Nicole was shocked at the scene that unfolded before her eyes as they widened with a mixture of emotions. Fear, sadness, confusion and anger pointed towards herself. Nicole began to question everything she knew alongside her mix of emotions. The worst situation she thought of was now tame compared to the horror show that was displayed right in front of her.

All she could do was scream inaudible words as she rushed to cut him down, her boy, her son, Gumball who hanging in a noose from the ceiling. She wanted to hold him in her arms praying and hoping he wasn't too far gone even though deep down she knew it was already too late.

She quickly stopped screaming and took action to cut him down so she could hold him in her arms like she wanted. Holding who she thought to be her son while kneeling down on the floor, an ocean of tears began to pile upon the deceased, cloned body of Gumball.

Nicole's screech of panic woke everyone in the house. Anais and Darwin both left their rooms and slowly made their way downstairs to investigate the source of their mother's groans. This was the first time either of them had heard her yell like that. There was something unsettling about it; it was different from her usual angry outcries. Richard also made his way to his wife slowly since he never had much energy in the mornings.

Darwin and Anais carefully walked down the last step and turned towards the living room where their mother was kneeling on the floor.

She was muttering something to herself but they couldn't quite hear her.

"Hey… Mrs. Mum? Are you okay?" Darwin said, as he concernedly moved closer to her with Anais following him from a slight distance.

Nicole didn't take any notice she just sat there continuing to mutter to herself, tears still flowing. As Darwin moved closer he could begin to understand what she was saying a bit better:

"Gumball, my boy, my sweet little gummy-puss…"

Darwin was confused, but not for long. As he came to stand beside his mum, everything was made clear to him. What could only be construed as what he thought to be a nightmare showed itself before him. "What? No! No I can't believe this, this can't be real?!"

Darwin turned to Anais, his eyes swelling up with tears, "It…it…it's G-Gumball. H-he's g-gone Anais, he's g-gone." Stuttering and sniffling, he managed to tell Anais what had happened. "G-Gumball's gone, he's d-dead."

Darwin didn't know what to do. Becoming weak, his knees gave out on him and he too collapsed next to the corpse to hug his best friend along with his mother.

It was then that Richard finally showed up, opening the bedroom door and walking into the room where he could see Nicole and Darwin kneeling down while Anais stood by like she had seen a ghost.

"Hey guys! Um…What's going on here?" Richard asked, confused and worried. He walked over to sit by Nicole to find out what was going on.

He too was shaken to the core and began to sob, putting his arms around Nicole.

Anais managed to snap out of her frozen, shocked state; she moved closer to get a look as she still couldn't believe it. Once close enough she only took a single glance and turned away from the sight of her dead brother because she couldn't stand it.

With whatever logic she still had left, the small bunny rabbit managed to call the police, trying to talk through her tears and inform them of the situation. Once done, she shakily hung up the phone and decided to join the rest of her family kneeling on the floor for comfort. Even though she couldn't stand the sight, she wanted to be with them as it was the only place to be right now.

Not too long later, the Doughnut Sheriff and a few other cops showed up knocking on the door. "Hey, police! Open up!"

Inside the house no one wanted to leave Gumball's or even each other's side to answer, so eventually the police knocked it down. They slowly walked inside, tasers in hand.

Slowly, the Doughnut Sheriff entered first, walking over to where the familiar family was kneeled over on the floor and yelled: "Police! Stay where you are, Wattersons, and don't move!"

The other cops followed behind, splitting up into different directions. Two of the officers went upstairs and the other two went into the kitchen and downstairs bedroom. Finally, the last cop stayed close behind the Doughnut Sheriff for backup.

The sheriff finally got close enough to see what had happened. "Oh dear god!" He lowered the taser, putting it back on his belt before signaling the officer behind him to do the same. Right in front of his eyes lying in the mother's - Nicole's lap was the corpse of the usually lively and mischievous Watterson boy.

"Mrs. and Mr. Watterson, could I ask you to take your kids and step outside?"

The sheriff felt sorry for them; he quite liked Gumball despite his goofy behaviour and knew the town wouldn't be the same without him. "Mrs. and Mr. Watterson, I'm afraid I have to insist. Please take your kids and wait outside for questioning." He didn't enjoy having to make them leave their son alone but he was first and foremost a sheriff, so he had to do his job.

Nicole finally responded after muttering to herself since she began clinging onto her son. "NO! I want to stay…I n-need to stay here with my G-Gummy-Puss!"

Surprisingly it was Richard who decided it was best for them to wait outside. "C-come on Nicole, we have to g-go outside and let the officers w-work."

"NO, NO! I have to stay with my son my G-gumball!" she cried, clinging to their son's lifeless body. Richard kept trying to separate Nicole from Gumball, but she kept begging to stay by his side.

Anais was ready to follow the police outside, but Darwin also would not budge from his best friend's body.  _Who would he have to play with anymore? What would he do without his buddy?_  Darwin upsettingly thought to himself. He couldn't stand these questions; he couldn't believe this was happening. It was these thoughts which made him bawl even more so than before.

Richard took Nicole and Anais outside then came back in to get Darwin, who he also had to struggle with when trying to separate him from his brother's body.

"I-I can't leave him! He-he's my best friend! My only friend, my only brother, please!" Darwin held a tight grasp around his brother, wanting and hoping this to be in his head as some messed up nightmare.

Richard didn't know what to say, so all he could do was just carefully pull Darwin away and take him outside despite his constant resistance to leave his brother's side. As he was being pulled away from Gumball, he could only think to himself:  _we were supposed to be together forever! You can't leave me alone, not like this!_ Giving up his resistance as he was taken outside, he sat down on the porch next to Nicole and Anais.

Soon after Darwin, Richard also sat down with them and they all embraced one another with streams of tears in a family hug that would never feel the same again. This was a dark day for the Wattersons as they only knew the truth of what they could see before them.

* * *

After they were dragged out, they were questioned by the police. Once the investigation around the house was complete, they left and Gumball was taken away in a body bag to the morgue for whenever Nicole or Richard wanted to visit and plan the funeral.

Once the cops had left, Nicole stood up.

"I...I want to have some time alone. I'll be in my bedroom," she muttered quietly as she headed back inside the house.

Richard also stood up as his wife was about to head inside. "Alright Nicole, I'll…I'll be on the sofa, if you need anything just ask," he responded with almost no emotion. He then looked down towards Darwin and Anais. "Don't worry kids. Everything will get better," he conveyed, trying to give hope to the situation despite of the fact that he didn't believe it himself.

Darwin and Anais didn't fall for their father's false words and instead just quietly followed him back inside. After entering through the front door, they both went upstairs to go into their own bedrooms as they both agreed with Nicole and felt like spending some time alone.

Especially Darwin.

* * *

D-Ball had just left the home he had been temporarily using after leaving the clone behind to fake his death. He now proudly donned his dark outfit which he forced Larry to make for him. As he flew through the sky, his cape trailed behind him, waving in the wind. He was making his way back to see Rob at his underground base.

Finally arriving at Elmore Park, D-Ball landed where the entrance was and set foot inside. Once again using his ability to teleport, he appeared right behind Rob, waiting for him to turn around and notice.

"Stupid Gumball or D-Ball or…whatever. I can't believe he's making me make this stupid thing," he said, mumbling to himself while he had no idea that the one he spoke of was waiting behind him. Rob then turned around not expecting to see anyone but was surprised.

"Hey there Rob, Glad to see me?" D-Ball had direct eye contact with Rob. He walked up closer to Rob, still glaring fiendishly into his eyes. "I'll pretend I didn't hear what you said. You know? Calling me Stupid Gumball or D-Ball or whatever," he uttered wickedly, now right up in Rob's face.

Rob nervously backed away, bumping into the desk behind him. "Oh, D-Ball, I-I know you said Sunday morning but I-I didn't think you'd be back  _this_  early in the morning?" he stuttered, confused as to why he was back so early.

Dark Gumball looked around the room spotting a device on a table cluttered with tools, It was the desk rob had bumped into, "You know why I'm here! Is that it behind you? Is it complete?" D-Ball walked up to the desk to get a better look at it, pushing Rob away to the side.

"D-don't touch it yet it's not finished." D-Ball once again looked at him with a glare as Rob nervously continued: "I-I still need a few more hours. Y-you know? Until it's like, actually morning… I-If you use it while it's still unstable, then it could have some serious consequences to anyone in the vicinity!"

"Hmph, fine. I'll give you your few more hours, but I expect it to be in complete working order by then." He walked over to sit down in a generic desk chair that was nearby. When he sat, he added: "And until then I'm going to keep my eye on you so don't go trying something or you'll pay the consequences." His presence menacingly emitted from where he sat as he intensely scowled at Rob as he worked on the device.

* * *

A few hours had passed with D-Ball's constant glare intimidating Rob from behind as he worked on the void remote device the cat had requested be built for him. D-Ball observed the room, noticing a digital clock on one of the monitors noting that it was now eight in the morning.

He got up from his chair and walked over to where Rob was working at the desk.

"Is it done? I expect it to be as I have given you plenty of time." Swinging his cape around in front of him with a pull of his hand, he added: "I've even been generous enough to extend your time limit for a few extra hours," he spoke, waiting expectantly for a pleasing response.

"A-alright just give me a second," Rob said as he added the batteries into the remote, sealing the lid on that covered them. "I-It's done okay?" he responded, unwillingly handing it over to D-Ball. "Now leave here. You got what you wanted." Hoping he would do just that, Rob pointed towards the exit for emphasis.

D-Ball started hovering and snatched the device from Rob's hand. He then looked to where he was pointing and snickered in response to his request for him to leave.

"Heh, you think I'm done with you? You work for me now! This is my base and you're the guest here. Or, did you forget that I could easily destroy you?" As to prove a point, he used some more of his power to create a ball of lively purple energy in his hand and fired it in quick succession around Rob's body, each shot only scraping by as they hit the desk and wall behind him.

Rob was shook, that's for sure, but he tried his best not to let it show since he knew that would be exactly what D-Ball would want to see.

"I-I gave you the damn device, what else would you need me for?" he said, demanding an answer. He hated having to help D-Ball; his only reason for being evil in the first place was to get back at Gumball for ruining his life.

D-Ball, who was still hovering, closed his eyes in thought for a moment, rubbing his chin. After thinking for a few quick moments, he opened his eyes and sharply looked towards Rob. "I'm not sure yet, but I know you're useful enough to keep around. I may want more equipment built or require repairs in the future." He paused for a moment and chuckled. "Also, you know too much for me to just let you go willingly. We can't have you go telling everyone, now can we? That would ruin the surprise."

Rob was confused.  _What does he mean by surprise?_ he pondered, eventually deciding it was best to just ask, "What do you mean? What surprise?"

"Oh that's right, you won't get to know since I'm keeping you down here." As D-Ball lowered himself to the ground, still holding the device in his hand, a dangerous smile appeared on his face. He decided to tell Rob all about his little gift that he had left behind.

"I left a clone that looked identical to Gumball and had it kill itself so the town will think he's dead. Not that he'll ever be able to return anyway." He walked up towards the monitors looking at one of the hidden cameras that had the Watterson's house in view. "My most evil but greatest idea yet, because I'm now free to focus on my other plan with a hundred percent of my attention."

Rob didn't really know what to say and ended up loudly blurting out the first thing that came to mind. "Y-You're crazy!"

He turned around and walked to the centre of the room looking back towards Rob, "Why thank you. Now if you will excuse me I have other things to attend to." Dark Gumball pointed the controller in front of him and pressed the button. Suddenly, a large door painted black, grey, and white appeared, its figure fuzzy and blurry. The remote Rob had built for him worked. It was a portal into the void just like he wanted.

"Thanks Rob, I knew you could do it!" he snickered, as he hovered his way into the staticky doorway.

* * *

Rob was glad to have some time to himself, even if he couldn't really do anything. It was a relief to be outside of D-Ball's presence. He decided he needed some fresh air after spending the entire previous day and all night in the bunker. Rob walked down the hallway and exited the bunker, making sure to close the door behind him.

Once outside, he stretched and breathed in the air; it was refreshing to be able to go outside finally not have to worry about any projects to complete. He walked out from where the entrance was hidden and sat down on a bench. As he sat down, he noticed Penny opposite him in the distance sitting on another bench. The only reason he knew who she was was because he kept track of everyone Gumball knew and loved.

Rob thought for a moment, deciding whether or not he should approach her to have a chat. She looked like she was looking for something as she kept moving her head around observing the area. Before he had the chance to move, it was Penny that got up and started walking over towards him.

As Penny approached Rob, she could see begin to see his face more clearly. Now, he appeared to be getting more nervous with each step closer she took towards him, Until finally, she was just a few feet away in front of where Rob was sitting.

"Hey there. Um…I was wondering if you saw anything weird around here?" She started to get slightly nervous herself, noticing the cyclops looking guy acting anxious. "Is uh…everything okay? You're acting kind of weird."

Rob was stuck wondering what he should do or say.  _Should I tell her about D-Ball? If he finds out, then what happens to me?_   _If no one finds out, what happens to the town?_ His mind was going a mile a minute trying to figure out the best course of action. He definitely didn't like working with D-Ball and despite not knowing what the cat was planning, he hated everything about what he did know.

"Well, uh…I'm going to go now, but keep an eye out for any unusual flying figures for me, would you? Thanks!" she said somewhat curiously as she started turning around to leave since the situation was becoming awkward from the silence.

Her request caused Rob to snap out of it instantly, knowing what she was insinuating,

"W-Wait!" He shot up out of the chair on the bench and called out to her. "You know about  _him_ as well?" he asked her questioningly.

Penny was shook by the cyclops' sudden actions and stopped in her tracks, turning back around to look at him. "What? Know about him? Who's him?" she said, responding to the sudden question she was asked, her curiosity having been spiked.

Rob persisted in his pursuit of Penny's knowledge about Dark Gumball. "You know,  _him._  D-Ball!" he declared, hoping he could talk with someone about this.

Penny was now even more interested than beforehand. "Who's this D-Ball? I only know a Gumball and, well…there's no D in that," she replied, trying to make a joke out of it.

Rob knew he was screwed now; she didn't even know about D-Ball until he told her. If D-ball found out he would surely be punished. "Oh y-you don't know? I'm screwed…I'm so screwed." He began pacing back and forth, panicking about what would happen if D-Ball found out.

Quickly, however, he stopped pacing, believing he revealed too much to Penny already. He decided it was best to just tell her everything he could. In truth, he wanted to tell someone about D-Ball since he first found out about him.

"D-Ball is Gumball…at least in a way but I don't know how or why yet," he said with caution as he began explaining everything he knew to Penny which wasn't much of anything.

Penny was surprised, shocked and confused. "W-What?! Gumball…I mean D-Ball is Gumball and has powers?!" She didn't know whether to believe it or not. Even so, it did explain the weird way Gumball acted when he came to visit her and the flying figure she saw.

Rob stood up and began walking away himself, "Be careful, D-Ball has eyes everywhere thanks to me no less, and it's up to you to do whatever with this information. Though I doubt anyone will believe you until it's too late!" he warned, as he started to runaway back towards the entrance of the bunker.

"W-Wait!" Ironically it was Penny calling out to him as they parted, "I never got your name, what is it?" she asked before he got too far away.

Rob considered it for just a moment and decided to tell her, "It's Rob! Oh and one last word of warning, Gumball is alive!" He decided it was best to tell her instead of letting her wonder when she hears the news about Gumball.

He disappeared behind the building in the park leaving Penny to her own thoughts.

"Gumball is alive? What does that mean? Of course he is," she mumbled quietly to herself.

She finally got the answers she wanted about that flying figure but everything surrounding it, about D-Ball and Gumball she still couldn't comprehend. These weird answers she got from Rob just left her with more questions.

Knowing there wasn't much left she could do, or look for around the park, she decided to leave and go back home. It was on her way home, however, that around three police cars zoomed down the street which seemed unusual. There wasn't much to go on, so she just rubbed it off as another criminal failing at being a criminal.

How could she possibly know? Know that these police cars would soon arrive at the Watterson's home to greet a most terrifying scenario?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Credit goes to the great lilie-pucisse on deviant-art for the appearance of Dark Gumball and the cover art! :D
> 
> Credit also goes to HitmonchanMan also on deviant-art for the name Dark Gumball! :D
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this chapter :D
> 
> Sorry for the long wait from Chapter 5 but got 2 out this month :) back to College next week so I have to focus on my College work for the rest of the Holiday and wont be able to do any while at College which means expect Chapter 8 to come out around late February.
> 
> Finally, as usual, I try to keep characters personality's as canon as possible so please tell me if I stray too far from that. (Don't count D-Ball / Dark Gumball)


	8. Chapter 8: The Revelation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Everyone, I said to expect the next one towards the end of February and here it is! Hope you enjoy :D
> 
> I had a lot of fun writing this one for some reason despite having a headache the past few days but i promised one for February so I had to commit haha.
> 
> Not sure when the next one will be, maybe in March at some point? Probably April though.  
> I could try to start to do theese monthly if it doesn't interfere with my College work but I wont make any promises.
> 
> If you would like continuous updates or wish to chat with me you can PM me for a discord link :)
> 
> On that note, Hope you enjoy this Chapter :D
> 
> I appreciate anyone who gives constructive feedback positive or negative.

It was early Sunday morning. The Watterson family was scattered around the house with feelings they have never felt before: depression and loneliness. Richard was on the couch, Nicole and Anais were in their bedrooms and Darwin was in his and Gumball's room, lying down on the bottom bunk. They all wept with the thoughts of why and how this happened until they eventually went to sleep from exhaustion.

* * *

Penny was on her way back home, but she just couldn't get these new questions off her mind. Wanting answers, she changed her route and instead went to visit Gumball. After what Rob told her, she was worried about him, she needed to see him. She began walking to the visit the Watterson's house, but she had the feeling something wasn't right as she got closer and closer to her destination. Penny gradually picked up her pace; she went from walking to jogging and eventually running until she arrived.

With the Watterson's residence coming into view she began to feel nervous and scared about what Rob meant. Walking up to the porch, she put her hand up and knocked on the door however, as she knocked on the door it swung open like it was purposely inviting her in as it wasn't shut properly.

"Hello, anyone there?" she asked questioningly as she peered through the gap of the ajar door, "It's me, Penny. Is Gumball here?"

Without an answer, she crept inside and spotted Richard sleeping on the couch. She didn't think too much about it as she knew how lazy Gumball's dad was and decided to walk past and head upstairs to Gumball's room.

She knocked on the door to Gumball and Darwin's room, but received no answer. She turned the handle and opened the door, stepping inside the room. From where she was standing, she could see Darwin lying on the bottom bunk with the blue cat nowhere to be seen. As she stepped closer towards the middle of the room to look around, Darwin started panicking in his sleep.

* * *

Darwin woke up, not taking any notice of where he was as he rubbed his eyes. However, as he got up he realized that he was not at home. In fact, he knew where he was as it was the same place he had been to in the dream he had not too long ago.

He asked himself out loud as he looked around: "W-what is this dream? W-why am I here?" Pondering the reason he was having this dream, he knew it wasn't any ordinary dream for two reasons: firstly, he had never questioned or remembered a lot of details in any dream he had previously. Furthermore, this was the second time he had this dream.

Like before, the door once again appeared and as he walked towards it, it opened for him. The door invited him back into the pitch-black room which gave the orange fish nothing but a cold and dreary feeling. Despite that, he walked inside and followed the same path as before until he reached where he had thought he seen Gumball the first time.

Lo and behold, Darwin had now walked farther than before and could clearly see the figure. He knew it was Gumball but still had no idea why. He ran closer towards him with tears in his eyes.

"Gumball! It's me, Darwin!" Continuing to get closer, he struggled to finish his sentence. "I-I thought y-you were go-…gone?" he trailed off at the end of his sentence, clearly seeing the state Gumball was in. "Gumball? W-what happened? Why are you in chains? Is that your blood on the floor?"

The only response Darwin received sent chills down his spine. "I'm c-c-cold…M-Mom, D-Darwin, anyone? Why do you hate me..." he said while shaking, tears in his eyes and blood surrounding a healed scar on his torso.

As Darwin continued comforting Gumball, he too was still crying from the sight his best friend was in. "Gumball! It's me, Darwin! I'm here, buddy, don't worry!" Darwin never believed this was just some normal dream, especially after this. Something was going on here and he was determined to find out what it was. He persisted to try and aid his blue-furred companion, but despite Darwin's best efforts of reassurance, Gumball took no notice and continued to beg for help.

"It's s-so c-c-cold… it h-hurts, please…s-someone...p-please end it!" Gumball pleaded with many areas of his body still chained to the floor.

Darwin had enough of this and aimed his sights at the chains. However, as he went to grab them to try and get them off, his hand phased right through them. From the confusion, he tripped and the rest of his body also phased through Gumball.

Darwin stood up and continued to try and grab the chains, his desperation to help his friend beginning to make him panic.

"Why?!" Darwin yelled, "Why can't I help you?!" Not giving up, he felt himself beginning to tear up again. "I-I let you die and now I can't even save you from this hell!" Eventually, after using up all his energy, he gave Gumball a hug, but that too didn't work and Darwin felt defeated.

This was when he began to get sucked back into the white room; he could feel the room trying to push him out again like it had before. He wasn't quite ready to go just yet.

"N-No! I-I don't want to go, I can't go! Not now, not when he needs my help!" He didn't want to go, he didn't want to leave Gumball like that, and on the off chance this was just some weird dream that meant nothing, he didn't want to return to a place where Gumball no longer lived.

* * *

Despite his best efforts to try and stay, the force pushing him out was just too strong. As he was pulled out, the door he had entered from slammed on his face.

"No, Gumball!" he yelled, "I don't want to leave, please! Gumball!"

"Sh, it's okay you were having a nightmare."

The fish looked up to see none other than Penny, who was now next to him. She tried to calm him down, even though she wanted to ask what he meant. She thought it would be best to ask about it once he had calmed down.

Darwin quickly calmed down as he realized he was back in his room. He got up from where he laid and hugged Penny.

"G-Gumball, he's…" He struggled to say anything as he sobbed from his confusion, "He's gone…or I think he is? I-I don't know anymore, it's all too confusing. I just want to see him again!"

_Was Gumball dead? Was he alive? What is that dream he keeps having? If he's alive, then where is he, and why would he do this?_  He had many questions on his mind and they were all just a mystery to him. Not knowing any of the answers and not being able to help his friend is what caused his cheerless state.

Penny, perplexed herself, tried to calm Darwin down again. "It's okay, Darwin. I'm sure Gumball is fine. Could you to explain to me what happened?" Penny let go of her fishy friend and grabbed a chair by the computer desk to sit down.

Darwin sat up on the edge of the bed, drying his tears before he started to explain what had happened earlier in the morning and how Gumball had been acting strangely the past few days. Penny just sat there and listened; she was shocked to hear about the recent events which had conspired.

_Suicide? Gumball would never do something like that!_  she thought as Darwin came to the end of his talk, "That can't be! I mean…if that's the case, why did that Rob guy say he was alive?"

Darwin perked up at the mention of Rob and Gumball in the same sentence. "That's it! It's Rob's fault! He knows what's going on here!" he said happily, thinking he had found the answers to all or most of his questions.

Darwin looked at Penny expectantly. "So…? What did Rob tell you? I need to know, please!" His gaze was locked on Penny as he awaited a response.

Penny decided it was best to share her knowledge with Darwin, especially seeing him in the state he's in. She told him what happened yesterday evening when Gumball visited her, how she followed a flying figure that looked like Gumball early in the morning which led her to meeting Rob and finding out about D-Ball from what Rob told her later that same morning.

Darwin was now even more confused than before, but he at least had hope now for Gumball to truly still be alive. "Is that it? He really didn't know why this happened?" Darwin was desperate for more answers. He urgently wanted to help his best friend. He wanted to help his brother.

Penny, wishing she could help more, apologized: "Sorry…that is everything he told me. Nothing more, nothing less."

Sighing, Darwin told her: "That's okay, thanks anyway. At least we have a good place to start." Despite this positive piece of knowledge, he still wished they knew more.

They both thought about everything they knew and began putting the pieces together as best they could. In spite of their best efforts, there were still too many vital parts missing. Mainly:  _how did this all happen to begin with?_  That was the big question they both pondered over.

After thinking for a while and discussing all the knowledge they had available to them, they decided it was best to go outside and look around for any more clues that could lead them to this D-Ball character.

* * *

As they headed out of the room and went downstairs, they could see Richard was still sleeping on the couch.

Darwin sighed. "I-I think we should tell Mrs. Mom," he suggested. He was nervous about how she would react. "Though, I doubt she will believe any of this."

Penny decided to let Darwin make the choice to tell her. "I'll leave it to you. I'll wait outside while you talk to her about it." She thought it was best not to get involved in this situation and opened the front door, stepping outside.

Darwin prepared himself then began to reach his hand up to the bedroom door. Knocking softly, he informed her of his presence and gently opened the door entering the dark room. Stepping inside, he turned on the light.

"Hey…Mrs. Mom. Can I talk to you?" he asked, fidgeting.

Nicole was still feeling upset. After all, why wouldn't she be? Drying her tears for what seemed like the millionth time, she sat up in her bed and invited Darwin to come closer. "What is it, dear?" she asked as she somberly looked at him with empty eyes.

"I don't know where to start, but it's about Gumball," he said, awkwardly darting his eyes back and forth from the floor to Nicole as he hesitantly approached her.

Worried, Nicole nodded somewhat encouragingly. "How about from the beginning?" Her depressed eyes were still looking at Darwin.

By now, Darwin was standing by the side of the bed. "Well…the other day I had a weird dream and today I had the same dream, but different." He told her everything about the dreams he had and what Penny had told him not too long ago. "To wrap it up, there is someone who looks like Gumball called D-Ball and Gumball may still be alive somewhere."

Nicole was speechless. Even so, a slither of hope entered her thoughts and her eyes no longer showed the emptiness they had before. Nonetheless, she still couldn't fully believe what she heard but desperately wanted to.

Darwin stood there silently for a bit, expecting a reply but nothing was said. "I um, know you probably don't believe any of this, Mrs. Mom…but I'm going to go with Penny now and we're going to look around for anything that could lead us to Gumball."

Darwin turned around slowly and was about to walk out of the room, but Nicole got up and grabbed Darwin, embracing him into a hug as she let out more tears. However, this time the tears were not of sadness, but of the little hope she had regained thanks to her son.

"Thanks dear, I would never doubt you." She held tightly onto Darwin as she continued to weep. "It wouldn't be like you to make up a lie like this."

Darwin accepted the hug and returned it. "Thanks Mrs. Mom." They stayed like this for a bit, but Darwin couldn't stay. "Sorry Mrs. Mom, Penny's waiting outside so I better go." He let go of Nicole and walked back towards the door, turning the light off. "I'll see you later, Mrs. Mom."

Nicole was still surprised about this new info but was grateful anyway to the chance she could have to see Gumball again. "Be careful dear, that D-Ball sounds dangerous from what you told me." A fire lit within Nicole's eyes. "I'd like to have a few words with him myself."

Darwin left the room and walked outside to greet Penny. "Hey Penny, sorry to keep you waiting for that long." Once they were next to each other, they began walking together down the road. "I never put much thought into this but…where should we start looking for clues?"

This comment from Darwin made them freeze in their tracks, since neither of them really knew where to go first. Penny, however, had a few suggestions:

"We could go to the park I was at earlier and try to get more answers out of Rob! Or, just look around?" Penny looked at Darwin as she suggested her other idea. "I also thought that maybe we could look around town for anything weird going on?" She now waited for an answer from Darwin as they stood quietly on the side of the road.

Darwin silently thought about it briefly then decided, "I think the town is the better choice as you already went to the park earlier." As they began walking towards the town, he simply stated that they could return to the park later.

Penny nodded, agreeing with the orange fish as she walked next to him, on their way towards the town. As they walked, they didn't have much to talk about other than what they already discussed and what happened when Darwin had told Nicole about the current situation. However, they weren't prepared for what would happen next.

_Especially_ Darwin.

* * *

D-ball had just left Rob's base, entering his newly-opened doorway into the void. As he hovered through it, the staticky portal closed behind him. D-Ball was now inside the void and now possessed the power to erase anyone from their existence.

As he floated around the space he was in, he looked around and thought for a moment.  _It would be good to have a base where I could plan my following moves without interruptions._  Finding a good place to start building, he stopped floating and landed on a large piece of land that had been sucked in who knows when.

Using all the power he could muster, he pulled many different objects from the surrounding area, which consisted of metal, wood, and concrete among other materials and formed them into a huge building that resembled some sort of mini-modern stronghold.

D-Ball was exhausted after using up so much of his energy the last few hours; after all, it wasn't too long ago where he had just made a clone and now he had just built this settlement for himself.

"I used up more energy earlier than I thought," he said weakly as he tried to catch his breath. His fatigued body limped inside of the new building that stood strongly in the center of the void. Once he entered through the electronic metal door, the sinister being collapsed on the floor to re-charge his exhausted powers.

* * *

_-BACKSTORY-_

It was mid-day on Thursday, and Gumball and Darwin were at school performing their usual shenanigans as they often like to do. Unbeknownst to them, something was going on elsewhere within the town of Elmore.

From behind, the officer started chasing him down. "Stop! In the name of the law, pull over the vehicle!" The Doughnut Sheriff was right on this speedster's tail.

The vehicle being chased down was a small red van with graffiti covering the sides of it. It was commonly known as the Awesome Store to the locals who liked questionable purchases. The van was speeding along the road as all the police cars and helicopters in Elmore now chased it down.

The Doughnut Sheriff called out again through the speakerphone. "I said pull over, you punk!" The Sheriff was getting fed up and rammed into the back of the van.

Losing control for a second, the van swerved and hit a bump in the road, which caused the back doors of the vehicle to loosen up and burst open. A significant amount of the merchandise flew out from the van and into the police cars chasing from behind.

Among the many valuables, there was one specifically which had to be protected at all times: it was a small gemstone which had its powers sealed so it appeared as any normal pebble. As it flew out of the back of the van and hit the windshield of the Sheriff's car, the box it was in flung open and the sealed gemstone bounced away somewhere along the road.

The mysterious driver of the Awesome Store looked back as it flew out with a panicked expression, even though he couldn't do much about it right now since he was being chased.

"Damn, that's not good," he muttered to himself in a mysterious, coarse voice, hoping he could retrieve it later before it was too late.

Still being ignored, the Sheriff turned to his partner who sat next to him.

"Why do they never listen..." As he tried to focus on a way to stop the van in front, he suddenly came to a conclusion. "I know! Maybe he just doesn't know how to stop." He pulled out the speakerphone again. "Hey! I just realized that you may not know how to stop, so I'm going to show you." He pulled up next to the van and slowed down pressing the breaks as he moved towards the curve to pull in. Again using the speakerphone, he called out to the van, "Just like that! Now you try."

The van completely ignored the request and sped up, driving down the road turning a corner that was actually an alleyway covered with shadows, making seem pitch black even though it was the middle of the day.

The Sheriff looked patiently at the van as it sped into an alleyway. "Maybe he will turn around and come back?" he said awkwardly, with skepticism to his partner.

The cop just looked to the Sheriff, face palming. "No, I don't think he's coming back." Sighing, she just looked towards the radio, awaiting the next call.

The Sheriff put away the speakerphone and looked around, noticing his doughnut box was empty. "Hmm…that's good then. I think he learned his lesson. Want to go for doughnuts?" he asked, craving his favorite food.

The Sheriff's partner agreed and so they turned around and drove to the doughnut store with all of the helicopters and police cars still following from behind.

_-END OF BACKSTORY-_

* * *

Penny and Darwin continued to walk towards town along the road, but as they continued, Darwin started to feel odd. The feeling of somebody giving up on him, slowly forgetting about him filled his chest. He collapsed to the pavement, not in pain but in a strange, unusual sense of sadness.

Penny immediately noticed this and kneeled beside him, rubbing Darwin on the back. "Are you okay? Maybe you should rest. You did have a rough morning, after all," she stated, trying to make him feel better.

Darwin attempted to pull himself up off the ground. "I…I'm fine," he reassured her with a somber sigh. He didn't understand why he felt like this, as he was feeling hopeful just a couple of minutes ago. "I don't know what that was about…let's go," the fish said as he managed to pull himself back up.

Once he stood up again, he managed to walk a few yards, but quickly collapsed almost as soon as he got up. Darwin didn't understand what was happening and thought for a minute. Suddenly, he remembered something - he remembered the only other time he had ever felt like this.

It was back around the time he had first met Gumball and Richard had flushed him down the toilet by accident. When he was trying to get back to Gumball, Gumball's heart had blackened because he had given up on trying to find Darwin. Though it wasn't for long, he could tell that the feeling he had then was the same feeling he felt now but hundreds of times stronger.

This event made him recall the dream he had earlier before Penny arrived. Gumball was calling for his help, yet he was unable to interact or help in any way within that space.  _That must be why. He must have given up on me ever helping him,_  he thought to himself.

Tears began to fill his eyes, once again feeling like the worst friend and brother. After all, he couldn't help Gumball even though he was right in front of him. He couldn't help Gumball before any of this happened and he only blamed himself.

Penny once again kneeled down, rubbing Darwin's back again. "You are definitely not okay. You need to go back home and get some decent sleep!" she demanded, getting into position to support Darwin on her shoulder.

It was then that something suddenly and completely unexpected happened to Darwin. It was almost like he grew shorter, but Penny still supported Darwin's shoulder at the same height.

She looked down and what she saw was a complete shock to her; she couldn't possibly imagine how Darwin would react to this.

"Umm…Darwin?" Penny awkwardly asked, stopping in her tracks. "I don't want you to worry but…well…look down."

Penny prepared herself as Darwin started panicking and hyperventilating. "M-My l-legs are g-gone! MY LEGS ARE GONE!" he yelled, letting out a loud screech just before he passed out.

Penny didn't know what to do, and she was also panicking as this was the first time she had seen someone's legs disappear. This just wasn't something that should logically happen.

There was one guy, however, who saw everything that happened. He was watching from a dark alleyway across the road. Penny caught sight of him as he was motioning her to follow him into the alley.

Penny didn't really have any choice - even if she took Darwin back home, she wouldn't know how to fix the current issue. Going against her every instinct, she crossed the road and followed the mysterious man hidden by shadows to a red van.

The man opened the back doors to the van. "If you want to save that fish, then follow me inside," he said in his rough voice as he stepped inside the van and hid behind a curtain at the front.

Her thoughts were going crazy right now.  _Should I go inside? If I don't, what will happen to Darwin? Who is this man? Can I trust him?_  Despite these thoughts, he was the only one who had seen and knew what happened to Darwin, claiming he could save him.

Stepping inside of the vehicle she decided to ask: "How do you know what happened to Darwin?" It was waning on her mind ever since he told her to follow him into the alley.

The man's eyes glowed through the curtains despite how dark it was. "Isn't it obvious, girl? I was that fish's original keeper," he replied, leaving Penny utterly bewildered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Credit goes to the great lilie-pucisse on deviant-art for the appearance of Dark Gumball and the cover art! :D
> 
> Credit also goes to HitmonchanMan also on deviant-art for the name Dark Gumball! :D
> 
> Well what you think of that? I hope you readers remember what episode this concept is based from :)
> 
> If you pay enough attention there have been many callbacks to episodes in the show throughout the Chapters and there are 2 that play a major role in this story. The first was this stuff to do with Darwin and the second...Well you'll have to wait to find out on that or just speculate hehe.
> 
> It's not too obvious but should make sense when revealed. :D
> 
> Finally, as usual, I try to keep characters personality's as canon as possible so please tell me if I stray too far from that. (Don't count D-Ball / Dark Gumball)


End file.
